UK supermarkets in growth, fuelled by additional £1bn grocery spend

UK supermarkets in growth, fuelled by additional £1bn grocery spend UK supermarkets in growth, fuelled by additional £1bn grocery spend Image Source: PixabayBritish shoppers  spent an additional £1bn on groceries during the 12 weeks to this April 23, fuelling the fastest rate of growth experienced by UK supermarkets since 2013, and creating all-time high  market shares for discount retailers  Aldi and Lidl.“All 10 major retailers are in growth  for the first time in three-and-a-half years…”Data released by consumer research experts Kantar Worldpanel reveals that Iceland, Aldi and Lidl all grew ahead of the market during the  12-week period, resulting in all-time best market shares for Aldi (6.9 percent) and Lidl (5.0%).And the grocery market growth rate has placed Lidl within a hair’s breadth of becoming the 7th largest of UK supermarkets: a position that’s currently held by Waitrose, where market share remained stable at 5.2 percent during the data timeframe.Commenting on its latest data for UK supermarkets, Kantar Worldpanel has partly attributed the 3.7 percent growth rate to a particularly strong Easte r across all UK supermarkets.Shoppers bought 20m packs of hot cross buns during Easter week, while a total of £325m was spent on Easter eggs, with almost three-quarters of the population buying at least one.Measured against the record low market growth rate  reported at the end of September 2014, the only growth in share among the top 10 brands has been experienced at Aldi (4.8pc-6.9pc); Waitrose (5.1pc-5.2pc); Lidl (3.6-5pc); Iceland (1.9pc-2.1pc); and Ocado (0.9pc-1.3pc).Data Source: Kantar WorldpanelIn the overall, however, it’s good news for the 10 major supermarket retailers, according to Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.“All 10 major retailers are in growth  for the first time in three-and-a-half years, when we last saw like-for-like grocery inflation as high as it is now,” McKevitt said this week, albeit tempering his overview with a prediction of probably price increases across the sector.“While prices do look set to rise fur ther,” McKevitt said, “the current inflation rate of 2.6% is still below the average level experienced by shoppers between 2010 and 2014.”