Lidl overtakes Waitrose to claim seventh place in UK grocery | Progresiv
New data from Kantar Worldpanel reveals that Lidl has overtaken Waitrose to become the seventh biggest grocer, as growth in the GB market is lifted by a further increase in inflation. 
Lidl's rise reflects the discounter's continuing outperformance against its peers. In this latest 12 week period to August 13th, Lidl was the fastest growing retailer with sales growth of 18.9% comfortably ahead of Aldi's 17.2%. The faster growth is despite Lidl's slower rate of store openings to date, however last month, Lidl's recently appointed UK CEO Christian Härtnagel announced plans to double its store opening rate to 50-60 per year. According to Kantar, 10 million people shopped at Lidl over the last 12 weeks, with Lidl growing sales 40% faster with sales families than with households without children. This strong growth means that Lidl's basket size is also growing YOY, at a time when many other experience declining average transactions.
Kantar's data shows that growth in the GB market hit 4% for this latest period, up from 3.9% last month, despite demand for some seasonal products such as ice cream being hit hard by disappointing summer weather in recent weeks.
There was encouraging news for all four of Britain's biggest grocers, though none managed to keep pace with the growth of the market. Tesco's 3.0% sales growth is a significant pick up on last month's 2.3% and comes as the retailer invests in initiatives including the nationwide rollout of same day delivery, the relaunch of Clubcard and fresh product innovation. Asda's growth also moved in the right direction, supporting last month's encouraging Q2 trading update in which Walmart CEO Doug McMillon noted how customers were responding to investments in price and the in-store experience. At Morrisons growth was lifted by the expansion of its online service to new areas in North East England and growing uptake of its The Best premium range. At Sainsbury's growth slipped as it continued to press ahead with its store remodelling work to accommodate Argos units in supermarkets, though growth was strong online and through its convenience store chain.
Waitrose saw sales growth of 2.8% as it stepped up its hospitality offer, soon to be led by incoming hospitality director Simon Burdess. Co-op was the only retailer to experience declining sales, with the downturn reflecting the retailer's sale of 298 smaller stores to McColl's to concentrate on driving LFL growth through stores that can support more mission-based thinking. (www.igd.com)
