Seismic shifts in the UK grocery market

The UK grocery market has seen significant transitions happening during the last year. This change has accelerated during the first months of 2023.

The German discounters have picked up the pace of their growth and it is directly hitting the Big 4 traditional UK grocers.

When one compares the market share development of the Big 4 to Aldi & Lidl, one can see that change has been steady for the last ten years. The growth of the discounters was interrupted by the pandemic as the discounters declined slightly in market share. The change has accelerated since March of last year.

Aldi has gained a staggering 1,3 %-points of market share, and Lidl has gained a full percentage of market share.

The retailers most heavily hit by the growth of the discounters have been Tesco with 0,5 %-points and Morrisons with 0,7 %-points.

Last month was the first time Morrisons saw their market share decline below 9% since the acquisition of Safeway in the early 2000s. On the other hand, Aldi is rapidly approaching a 10% market share.

It remains to be seen where the market share will plateau and when this might happen. It may take some time as inflation rampages in the UK.