Asda continues to trail behind as UK grocery sales growth slowed over the last month, with shoppers reining in spending in anticipation of Black Friday and Christmas, fresh data from NIQ has found.
The market researcher said UK supermarket sales slowed to 4.0% in the four weeks to 2 November year-on-year, down from 4.7% in the previous month.
NIQ UK head of retailer and business insight Mike Watkins said: “Shoppers so far have been cautious and it’s evident that they are saving on grocery essentials to be able to afford treats and indulgences and we have a polarised consumer with 50% of households continuing to feel pressure on personal finances.”
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The firm said sales of general merchandise fell 1.4% in value terms, with volume sales down 5.5%.
In line with data from fellow researcher Kantar this week, NIQ said Britain’s fastest growing grocers were Ocado and Lidl, with growth over the 12 weeks to Nov. 2 of 16.1% and 11.9% respectively.
M&S secured third place with a growth of 11.4%, while market leader Tesco, which rose by 4.7%, and second-place Sainsbury’s, up 4.6%, both saw an increase in market share.
Meanwhile, third-ranked Asda continued to trail behind, with a 3.5% decline in sales and a 1 percentage point drop in market share over the year.
Last week Asda unveiled plans to invest £13m into store hours over the upcoming golden quarter to ensure more staff members were available to help shoppers during the busy period.
The retailer is hoping to accelerate its transformation efforts in the coming months after chair Lord Stuart Rose took the reins of the supermarket in September as Mohsin Issa stepped back from the day-to-day running of the chain.
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