This week’s market share figures from Worldpanel by Numerator were interesting for a number of reasons. Not just Lidl streaking ahead of Morrisons as the UK’s fifth-biggest grocer but also the fascinating juxtaposition between two other supermarkets. While Asda’s sales were down 3%, revenues at Waitrose were trending by 3% in the right direction.

This seems counterintuitive as consumers continue to be battered by rising prices and lower disposable income. It is made all the more poignant by the fact that Waitrose is to open stores on two sites currently leased by Asda. One is in Hale Barns, Manchester, which has operated as an Asda since 2024. The other is in Cricklewood, north London: Asda had yet to even develop that one into a store before being forced to hand it over. 

So why is the upmarket retailer flourishing while the value-driven supermarket is finding things so tough?

Ultimately it comes down to where both businesses currently are on their respective journeys. New Waitrose MD Tom Denyard joined the business at the beginning of the year. It was fortuitous timing. Through a combination of his predecessor James Bailey, the more than solid leadership team he’s inherited, or the firm but hidden hand of his old Tesco boss, the now JLP chair Jason Tarry, Waitrose has been getting a lot right recently, with investment in a ‘Home of Food Lovers’ store refurbishment proposition really working, while its innovation and its marketing is on a roll. Waitrose has a good story to tell right now, and it’s telling it pretty well. 

As sales recover Waitorse has increasingly been able to invest in price, confirming it was lumping a further £30m into reducing the price of its own-label products. It’s an important and timely move, of course, but it’s all part of a wider strategy that seems to be working. With M&S shifting its proposition to a more affordable, everyday and family-based offer, Waitrose has been left alone to promote its premium foodie wares.

This may soon be challenged, with Tesco seemingly having the Waitrose shopper in its sights, but for now Waitrose is very much out there in its own space.

Asda, on the other hand, is a very different story. The battle for the value-driven pound is hotter than ever and Lidl’s and Aldi’s ascension up the market share ranking is a headache for Asda just as much or even more than for Morrisons.

While it has been beefing up its top team since last summer with the hires of chief customer officer Rachel Eyre from Morrisons, chief people officer James Goodman from Tesco and the return of chief customer officer Darren Blackhurst, it is still a business that has been without a CEO since the departure of Roger Burnley in 2021.

Last week, Asda revealed some of the work being done to woo back shoppers with a major range refresh and improvements to the in-store experience including the return of greengrocer colleagues, more price cuts and loyalty enhancements.

The key difference from this and Waitrose is that Asda feels like it is still very much in the early stages of its race and it is having to come from a long way back. There are some promising signs, but translating that into driving more customers through the doors and getting them to spend more is going to take more time.

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