London - Britain's "Big Four" grocers are under increasing pressure to hang onto shoppers being enticed by discount products at retailers Aldi and Lidl and higher-end offers at Waitrose, monthly industry data showed on Tuesday.
Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said Lidl had grown its market share to an all-time record high of 3.1% in the 12 weeks to July 7, while Aldi scored another a record-equalling share of 3.6%.
Together with Waitrose, which has a market share of 4.8%, these three companies now account for 11.5% of the grocery market, 3.2 percentage points more than four years ago.
Market leader Tesco, No 2 player Asda and No 4 Wm Morrison all saw their share dip. Only No 3 J Sainsbury bucked the trend, maintaining its 16.5% share with sales growth of 3.8%, ahead of overall market growth of 3.7%.
"Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl have all been hugely successful in recent years, growing well ahead of the market average," Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel said.
"This trend has cut deeply into the available market share for the bigger retailers who are now having to compete for a contracting middle ground."
Kantar said grocery inflation for the 12 week period was 3.9%.
Following is a summary of market share and sales.