Aldi has now become Britain’s sixth largest supermarket, kicking Waitrose out of that spot.
The measurement is by market share taken over the first 2 months of 2015.
Aldi’s growth has impacted on the traditional “big four”, forcing lower the market shares of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrison which are all in decline.
Despite being overtaken by Aldi, Waitrose’s popularity with shoppers grew. It was one of only three grocery retailers to see its market share increase along with Aldi and Lidl.
Aldi and its rival Lidl now represent 9% of the British grocery market, up from just 5.4% in 2012.
Waitrose has had six years of sales growth throughout the financial meltdown. However, Aldi has been growing even faster as shoppers switch from out-of-town supermarkets to the discounters.
The four major retailers have been acting as ‘all things to all people’ while Waitrose and the German discount stores target specific interests within the mainstream.
With Aldi and Lidl rising rapidly, a price war was started by the major retailers to staunch the flow of consumers. Prices have fallen for 19 consecutive months and are at their lowest since 2006 and 2% less than a year ago.
Aldi has some 500 outlets in the UK but wants to double these to 1,000 by 2022. It said expansion in London this year is its target.
