Supermarket sales grew by 1.4% over the 12 weeks to mid-June, new data published by Kantar reveals, as the weather across the UK fails to match last year’s heatwave.
During the 12 weeks to 16 June, supermarket sales rose by 1.4% year on year as a result of the wet weather to kick-start the summer period.
Last year’s summer heatwave and the lead up to the men’s FIFA World Cup made 2018 a difficult year to outperform.
According to Kantar, the poor weather to hit the UK is reflected in sales of typical summer categories such as ice cream, beer and burgers.
In the last four weeks, ice cream sales were £15 million lower than this time last year, beer was down £17 million and burgers £6 million.
Despite a decline in sales of typical summer products, shoppers seem to have spent more on comfort foods as fresh and tinned soup sales rose.
As for specific supermarkets, Aldi attracted an additional 883,000 shoppers across the 12-week period, growing its market share to 7.9%.
Lidl, which recently announced plans for a flagship store on central London’s Tottenham Court Road, rose its market share to 5.7%.
Tesco (LON:TSCO), whose market share fell over the period, still remains the nation’s largest retailer.
Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) came in second, whilst Asda’s (NYSE:WMT) overall market share declined to 14.9%. The two supermarkets recently had their potential merger blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), claiming that consumers would not benefit from the merger. The CMA said that this was due to an expected increase in prices, reductions in the quality and range of products on offer and a poorer overall shopping experience for consumers across Britain.
Shares in Tesco plc (LON:TSCO) were down 2.41% on Tuesday as of 10:06 BST. J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY) were also down at -0.69% (10:07 BST) and shares in Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), owner of Asda, were up 0.099% as of 19:56 GMT-4.
