Marks & Spencer was the UK’s fastest-growing bricks & mortar grocer in March, data from Worldpanel by Numerator has revealed.
M&S announced the landmark moment – relating to fmcg sales in the four weeks ending 22 March 2026 – as it forecast its biggest-ever week of British lamb sales, including the Easter bank holiday.
The retailer reported strong category growth in lamb since 2023, with its own data showing volume sales up 25%.
The four-week Worldpanel sales monitor for retailers tells a slightly different story to the data provider’s publicly available 12-week figures. These show Lidl as the fastest-growing bricks & mortar grocer in the 12 weeks to 22 March, with sales up 9.6% year on year.
M&S ran a close second, with a 9.5% rise. It was M&S’s fastest growth in grocery since June last year, when its previously stellar pace began to slow in the wake of the cyberattack that disrupted the business from April.
Worldpanel data also showed M&S Food attracted 920,000 more households year on year in the 12-week period.
“We are on a journey to double the size of M&S Food, and we’re doing that by offering only the best quality to our customers, at great value,” said M&S Food MD Alex Freudmann.
“We are the only UK retailer to offer ’best in season’ across all our fresh lamb, which is 100% British year-round and follows the natural lamb farming calendar from the south of England, progressing up the country as we move into summer.
“This week we are expecting our strongest-ever sales of fresh lamb for Easter as customers continue to come to us for centrepieces sourced from British farmers to celebrate with the family, from our Harissa Lamb Shoulder to our Feta & Spinach Stuffed Lamb Leg.”
NIQ data showed M&S grocery sales growth of 9.2% in the 12 weeks to 21 March, giving it a market share of 4%, compared with Waitrose’s 3.9%.
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