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Middle class shoppers are continuing to flock to the discount supermarkets, new research has confirmed.
Aldi and Lidl reported year-on-year annual growth of 19.8% and 12.3% respectively in the three months to mid-August, according to the latest research on grocery market share from TNS Worldpanel.
Iceland, meanwhile, reported annual sales growth of 14.4% in the same period – its strongest performance for many years.
Most of this growth came from new, rather than existing, customers, TNS noted. However, the average customer outlay in these stores was much less than in the more established outfits. For example, £45 each month in Aldi, compared with £126 for Tesco.
The discount supermarkets are proving particularly popular with cash strapped young families, TNS reports. 'Price is now clearly driving market shares,' it said.
Overall, however, the grocery sector remains under pressure. Overall, grocers saw their turnover grow by 7.2% compared with the same period in 2007, although TNS put much of this down to price rises. Annual food inflation stood at 6.8% at the end of August, TNS said.
Coompared with the discounters, the ‘top four’ supermarkets saw more challenging trading conditions.
Asda and Morrisons were the best performers over the period with above-trend increases, whereas Tesco and Sainsbury came in below average. Waitrose, meanhwile, underperformed all four of the big guns, although it still increased sales by 4%.