Aldi overtook Asda to be the UK’s third biggest supermarket in grocery market share during the last month.
Aldi’s grocery market share was 9.8% in the four weeks to 18 May, compared with Asda’s 9.4%, according to Kantar data seen by The Grocer.
In the 12 weeks to 18 May, the two were neck-and-neck on 9.8% grocery market share each.
Aldi’s grocery sales were up 8.2% year on year in the 12 weeks, while Asda’s were down by 6.7%.
The grocery sales figures include food and drink, household and healthy & beauty categories, and are different to the numbers in Kantar’s latest market update, which relate to all expenditure through store tills excluding petrol and in-store concessions. Those have Aldi creeping up on Asda in market share. The discounter had 11.1% of the market in the same 12-week period, up from 10.8% a year ago, while Asda had 12.1%, down from 13%.
The grocery figures are shared by Kantar with supermarkets, and not included in its monthly published data.
In food and drink, excluding alcohol, household, toiletries and healthcare, Aldi is some way ahead of Asda, with a share of 10.8% in the 12 weeks to 18 May, versus 10%.
“In the latest data we have taken third spot,” Aldi UK & Ireland CEO Giles Hurley told The Grocer.
“That’s not an objective for us. We don’t benchmark on placement in the market. But it’s an interesting output of our growth and it’s exciting. Seven in every 10 households shop with us.”
He said grocery market share was “a really good measure of a retailer’s performance”.
An Asda spokesperson said: “The data upon which these claims are based is highly selective and does not capture Asda’s strong performance across George, Asda Express and Fuel, which remain a key point of difference to the limited-range discounters.”
Aldi’s total sales grew at their fastest rate since the start of 2024 in Kantar’s latest published data, rising 6.7% year on year, while Asda was the only supermarket to register a fall, of 3.2%.
On the prospect of Aldi overtaking Asda outright in market share, Hurley said: “That’s not a target for us. Our focus is on what Aldi does best and that’s offering unbeatable low prices and growing and scaling our business.”
Aldi this morning announced it would open 10 new stores in the next 14 weeks, while refreshing another 30. It currently has more than 1,050 UK stores, and has set a long-term target of growing the estate to 1,500.
Hurley said the discounter was on course to have opened 40 new stores throughout 2025, in a £650m expansion investment. He said the estate would be “knocking on the door of 1,090” by Christmas.
“And the great news is, next year I plan to open another 40 stores. And in 2027 I plan to open another 40.”
Forty new stores throughout 2025 would be a step up compared with Aldi’s expansion rate in recent years, which has been closer to 30 new stores annually.
Kantar’s latest update also said grocery price inflation hit 4.1% over the four weeks to 18 May, the highest rate since February 2024. It meant inflation had reached a level that typically triggers “changes in behaviour” of consumers, Kantar head of insight Fraser McKevitt said.
Hurley put Aldi’s recent acceleration in sales growth down to “ebbs and flows” in a long-term trajectory, but added: “We’ve doubled down on everyday low pricing. You don’t have to join a club, there’s no subscription fee, you don’t need to wait for an offer when you come shopping at Aldi.
“And there’s no doubt that is driving performance.”
Store upgrades would be location dependant but would include “new fixtures, new lighting” and “additional chiller space”, Hurley said.
“Some of them will see specifically new bakery and health & beauty fixtures.”
Hurley also commented on the cyberattacks to recently hit a number of retailers, resulting in customer data breaches for M&S and the Co-op. With no loyalty scheme, Aldi holds comparatively little in the way of customer data.
“First and foremost, I wouldn’t wish those situations on any of our competition,” Hurley said. “As competitive as we are, I think what those businesses have experienced, what the management teams, the colleagues, customers have experienced, is absolutely horrendous, and is not something I want to see in the market.
“I think without question it’s made retailers and probably businesses more widely sit up and reflect on their position.
“In truth, for some years we’ve been reviewing our cybersecurity and sense-checking whether our position is robust enough, and investing to make sure it is, and that won’t stop.
“It’s business as usual for us in terms of making sure that our colleagues, our business and our customers are protected from these kinds of attacks.”
The Aldi chief reiterated a recent promise not to soften the discounter’s meat and poultry standards even if regulations ease for trade deals – while taking a dig at rival Sainsbury’s.
“I’ve made it very clear that our commitment to British sourcing won’t be compromised,” he said.
“And actually, I was quite interested, just this week, being in a competitor supermarket and looking at some New Zealand Wagyu beef kebabs under the Taste the Difference banner. That’s from a supermarket which has a British beef commitment.
“All our Wagyu beef kebabs are 100% British Wagyu, sourced through our partnership with Warrendale Farms, and we won’t compromise on that.
“And by the way, they’re 10% cheaper than the equivalent in that supermarket.”
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