Yorkshire’s Morrisons has lost its fourth spot in the UK supermarket league table, according to data from brand analysis expert Kantar Group.
The latest Kantar data, covering the 12 weeks to September 4, suggests that budget supermarket brand Aldi has leapfrogged Morrisons into fourth spot. The news comes despite Morrison’s lucrative relationship with online delivery partner Amazon that saw its profits soar during the pandemic lockdowns, and a £7bn takeover by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in October 2021. The supermarket also recently signed a deal with rapid delivery app GoPuff.
Kantar blamed the changing supermarket demographics on the current economic climate, explaining that consumers are increasingly looking to value brands as inflation, which is currently sitting above 12 per cent, pushes the average UK annual grocery bill to £5,181.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “Back at the start of the 2010s, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons together accounted for over three quarters of the sector but that traditional big four is no more. The discounters have seen dramatic sales increases in recent months, bringing more and more customers through their doors. Aldi has done well to expand its shopper base, supported by consistent store openings, and with 14.2 million consumers visiting the grocer in the past three months. Meanwhile, for the fourth month in a row Lidl was the fastest growing grocer and recorded its strongest sales performance since October 2014.”
Morrisons currently holds 9.1 per cent of the UK supermarket pie, a slip from 9.8 per cent on the same period last year, and below Aldi’s 9.3 per cent. Tesco remains the UK’s biggest supermarket with 27.4 per cent of the market.
