Top story

The extremes of the grocery market are attracting bargain-minded shoppers as well as those looking for luxury brands highlighting the squeeze of those in the middle, according to a table of Britain’s fastest growing retailers.

German discounter Aldi has topped the rankings of growth brands by consultancy by OC&C, with premium supermarket Waitrose taking second spot. It comes as Aldi hit a record market share of 5%, according to the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel, with sales growing by 19.3% in the 12 weeks to 1 March. The same data showed Waitrose posted sales growth of 4.9% and grew its market share from 5% to 5.2% in the period. However, the retailer is expected to reveal shrinking profits on Thursday thanks to being dragged into the raging price war among its rivals.

“We’ve seen the majority of growth in the retail sector come from its polar extremes in terms of price position,” said Anita Balchandani, head of retail and partner at OC&C. “Although at first glance these retailers have little in common, what they all share is a trait to adapt the quickest to what matters most to customers, create strong propositions that are well-rated by customers, and ‎good, transparent value, regardless of their price position.”

Fellow discounters B&M, Home Bargains and Primark also feature in the top ten, with Poundland, Poundworld and Costcutter all in the top 20. In the premium column alongside Waitrose sits Burberry and Harrods.

The 20 Fastest Growing Retailers in the UK:
1. Aldi (UK & Ireland)
2. Waitrose
3. Sports Direct
4. Primark
5. Burberry
6. John Lewis
7. Home Bargains
8. B&M Retail
9. ASOS
10. JD Sports
11. Poundland
12. Ocado
13. The Range
14. AO.com
15. Net-a-porter
16. Harrods
17. Screwfix
18. Costcutter
19. Poundworld
20. Dunelm Mill

Morning update

On a very quiet morning on the markets for grocery - ahead of what will be a busy day tomorrow with Waitrose and Morrisons results - banana importer Fyffes is down 3.9% to 84.1p and Sainsbury’s has fallen another 0.9% to 263.5p. Wholesaler Booker is one of the morning’s climbers, up 3.4% to 159.9p.

Yesterday in the City

Sainsbury’s (SBRY) had a bad day of it yesterday as its shares dropped 3.5% to 265.9p after Kantar Worldpanel’s latest data showed its sales fell 0.5% in the 12 weeks to 1 March and its market share declined to 16.8%.

Morrisons (MRW) also took a 1.5% hit to 205.1p as its takings fell 0.4%, with market share down to 11%. It comes as the supermarket gets ready to announce it annual results on Thursday.

Tesco (TSCO), which had more reasons to celebrate as the stand-out performer in the period of the big four, also saw its stock decline 2.1% to 235.3p. The dip came despite the retailer notching up its best performance in 18 months with sales growth of 1.1% and a 0.1% slip in market share to 28.7%.

Online rival Ocado (OCDO) on the other hand was one of only a handful of grocery stocks to actually record a rise. The stock was up 1.5% to 376.1p on the back of its first quarter trading figures, with a 19.2% rise in group sales to £271.1m.

The other risers were McColl’s Retail Group, again, Glanbia and Hilton Food Group, up 1.8% to 173p, 0.5% to €16.58 and 1.1% to 410p respectively.

Topics