LONDON (Reuters) - The combined UK grocery market share of German discounters Aldi [ALDIEI.UL] and Lidl [LIDUK.UL] has hit a record 10.5 percent as they continue to win business from Britain's traditional big supermarkets, industry data showed on Tuesday.
Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said Aldi's sales increased 11.5 percent year-on-year in the 12 weeks to June 19, taking its market share to 6.1 percent, while Lidl's sales rose 13.8 percent, taking its share to 4.4 percent.
The performance of Britain's so-called big four grocers was a continuation of recent trends, with all of them losing market share compared with the year before.
Sales at Tesco (L:TSCO) fell 1.3 percent, while at Morrisons (L:MRW) they dropped 2.4 percent, both reflecting the ongoing impact of store disposals. At Sainsbury’s (L:SBRY) sales fell 1.4 percent, while at Asda (N:WMT) they were down 5.9 percent.
Overall UK grocery sales fell 0.2 percent, while deflation was 1.4 percent.
Falling prices reflect the impact of Aldi and Lidl and the market’s response, as well as deflation in some major product categories such as bacon, butter, and detergents.
The monthly data predates Thursday's referendum which saw Britain vote to leave the European Union.
"The immediate economic uncertainty is unlikely to cause a substantial fall in grocery volumes, as demonstrated by the 2008 financial crisis when basic food, drinks and household sales proved resilient," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.
But he noted that with an estimated 40 percent of the food Britain consumed sourced from overseas, any long term change in exchange rates could threaten the current period of cheaper groceries.
