Shopper cutbacks have hit performance of premium grocery lines across the market have fallen.

Kantar said that premium own label products have been in continuous growth since 2008, despite often being more expensive than their branded equivalent. Now, they are declining by 6% year-on-year, while economy own labels such as Tesco’s Everyday Value are growing at 13%.

Waitrose’s till roll growth over the 12 weeks to July 8 fell to 4.8% from 7.5% the previous period suggesting the premium sector is beginning to slow, data released by Kantar Worldpanel today revealed.

Conversely, German discounters Aldi and Lidl recorded growth of 26.1% and 11.5% to achieve matching market shares of 2.9%.

However, Waitrose’s sales, reported weekly, show the upmarket grocer continues to record strong sales. Actual sales for the week ending July 7 were 6.1% higher than last year.

Tesco now holds a 30.7% market share, down from 31.1% last year; Sainsbury’s share is up marginally at 16.5% on 16.4% last year while Morrisons share fell from 12.1% to 11.9% last year. Asda recorded a static share of 17.3%while The Co-operative’s share fell from 7% last year to 6.6% this.

The overall grocery market’s growth rate fell back to 2.1% compared with 4.2% a year ago. Grocery price inflation now stands at 3.8%.

Over the last four weeks, Asda grew 3.9%, Sainsbury’s 2.8%, Morrisons 1.4% and Tesco 0.6%. Waitrose grew 3.2%, aldi 28.1% and Lidl 13.7% while The Co-operative’s growth slowed 2.9%.

Kantar Worldpanel director Edward Garner said: “We are seeing big cutbacks by consumers as they continue to respond to this current period of austerity. The success of the discounters, Aldi and Lidl, is a clear example of shoppers watching their purses, with both retailers continuing to surge ahead.

“Another sign of austerity making an impact is the decline of the premium own label sector. Premium own-label.”

Garner added: “Frozen food continues to be the top-growing food sector, as consumers look to reduce waste, and this has helped Iceland to continue the upward trend it has enjoyed since 2005.”

Full table of Kantar Worldpanel tolld roll data below. It includes all expenditure through main store tills and excludes petrol and instore concessions.

 
  12 Weeks to 10 July 2011  12 Weeks to 08 July 2012 change
 £000s%   * £000s %   *%
Total Till Roll    30,987,300     31,349,540 1.2
 Total Grocers          23,433,900100.0%          23,932,250100.0%2.1
   Total Multiples            22,906,54097.7%            23,411,22097.8%2.2
      Tesco                7,298,05731.1%                7,346,44330.7%0.7
      Total Asda                4,062,54417.3%                4,145,08817.3%2.0
        Asda                3,942,21916.8%                4,145,08817.3%5.1
        Netto                   120,3250.5%                           -  0.0%-100.0
      Sainsbury’s                3,835,26516.4%                3,952,24216.5%3.1
      Morrisons                2,843,85512.1%                2,849,55911.9%0.2
      The Co-operative                  1,643,0007.0%                1,583,5506.6%-3.6
        Co-operative                  1,634,8907.0%                1,583,4936.6%-3.1
        Somerfield                      8,1100.0%                           570.0%-99.3
      Waitrose                1,026,9764.4%                1,075,8624.5%4.8
      Aldi                   553,0592.4%                   697,3192.9%26.1
      Lidl                   619,0842.6%                   690,0092.9%11.5
      Iceland                   454,6211.9%                   481,0432.0%5.8
      Farm Foods                   133,2180.6%                   133,6450.6%0.3
      Other Multiples                   436,8651.9%                   456,4591.9%4.5
   Symbols & Independents                 527,3612.3%                 521,0332.2%-1.2

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