Iceland's 800th store in Beccles

Iceland’s sales dipped 0.3% in the latest Kantar Worldpanel numbers

Iceland has posted its first drop in sales since 2005, according to the latest grocery market share data from Kantar Worldpanel.

The frozen discounter’s sales fell 0.3% in the 12 weeks to 20 July 2014, Kantar Worldpanel said. Despite the fall, Iceland’s market share remained at 2% during the three-month period.

Tesco, Morrisons and The Co-operative Group also recorded declining sales. Sales at Tesco and Morrisons both fell by 3.8%. Tesco’s market share fell from 30.3% last year to 28.9%, while Morrisons’ fell from 11.5% to 11%.

Sales at The Co-op declined 2.1%, while its market share dipped from 6.5% to 6.3%.

Aldi and Lidl were once again the strongest performing retailers during the period, racking up sales growth of 32.2% and 19.5% respectively.

“Aldi’s 32% growth rate has lifted its market share to 4.8%; this is a new record for the retailer and means it has nearly caught up with Waitrose on 4.9%,” said Kantar Worldpanel director Edward Garner.

“Similarly, Lidl sales have grown by nearly 20% and it has held onto its record share of 3.6%.”

Among the big four, both Asda and Sainsbury’s held onto their market shares of 17% and 16.6% respectively. Asda recorded sales growth of 0.9%, while Sainsbury’s recorded sales growth of 1.2%.

Kantar Worldpanel also said grocery price inflation had fallen for the 10th successive period and now stood at 0.4%.

Competitive pricing and deflation in the price of staple items has driven inflation to the lowest level since October 2006 when Kantar Worldpanel began this measure, it said. In turn, market growth fell to 0.9% - the lowest figure for 10 years.

Total Till Roll - GB Consumer Spend
  12 weeks to 21 July 2013  12 Weeks to 20 July 2014  % Change
  £000s % ** £000s % ** %
Total Till Roll 32,178,400   32,459,920   0.9%
Total Grocers 24,874,620 100.0% 25,096,290 100.0% 0.9%
Total Multiples 24,356,800 97.9% 24,580,030 97.9% 0.9%
Tesco 7,535,618 30.3% 7,248,330 28.9% -3.8%
Asda 4,224,824 17.0% 4,264,216 17.0% 0.9%
Sainsbury’s 4,122,739 16.6% 4,173,881 16.6% 1.2%
Morrisons 2,867,962 11.5% 2,758,776 11.0% -3.8%
The Co-operative 1,607,447 6.5% 1,573,334 6.3% -2.1%
Waitrose 1,195,139 4.8% 1,235,289 4.9% 3.4%
Aldi 912,814 3.7% 1,206,659 4.8% 32.2%
Lidl 766,137 3.1% 915,595 3.6% 19.5%
Iceland 499,632 2.0% 498,379 2.0% -0.3%
Farmfoods 159,625 0.6% 184,880 0.7% 15.8%
Other Multiples 464,869 1.9% 520,694 2.1% 12.0%
Symbols & Independents 517,815 2.1% 516,254 2.1% -0.3%

** = Percentage Share of Total Grocers