Tesco clubs opposition in UK

The battle between Tesco and Asda in the UK is hotting up, according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel (formerly TNS Worldpanel) data for the 12 weeks ending 21 February 2010.

Tesco is at the forefront of the fight for the shopper’s pound, it says. The retailer has reaped the rewards of its national Clubcard campaign and double points scheme and seen its share increase from 30.1% to 30.4%.

This has put the pressure on Asda and it has recorded a 0.2% drop in market share this month.

Ed Garner, communications director at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “The post-Christmas period is traditionally characterised by price wars but this year we’re seeing a step-up in marketing activities such as loyalty schemes and coupons to attract consumers’ share of wallet.

“Tesco has undoubtedly turned up the heat for Asda this month but the battle is by no means over. Asda has reacted strongly with a major coupon scheme of its own and we expect to see the impact of this latest consumer onslaught in next month’s figures.”

Despite strong competition from Tesco and Asda, Sainsbury’s continues to perform ahead of the market and has grown share for the 12th successive period in this series of reports.

Morrisons has also posted another strong performance this month boosted by its store acquisition on the back of the Co-operative’s assimilation of Somerfield.

Following its pre-Christmas £200m package of price cuts and promotions to support the takeover, the Co-operative has recorded the strongest growth this period with a year-on-year growth of 16.3%.

This is just ahead of another sparkling performance from Waitrose, which has posted a 15.5% year-on-year growth this month and lifted its market share to an all-time high of 4.3%.

Conversely, the discounters continue to lag behind the market with both Lidl and Aldi experiencing a loss of market share.

Their reversal of fortune, with market share back to a pre-recession level, can be partly attributed to increased price competition from the major retailers.

Asda’s low-cost offering, in particular, has been highly publicised in recent months as it woos back the value-hungry who migrated to the discounters when the recession hit.

Additionally, the weakness of sterling continues to threaten some of the pricing in the German-based retailers and consumers are once again starting to shop there more selectively.

Tesco: benefiting from loyalty card campaign