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Asda was found to trail behind all other major UK supermarkets with a 3.5% decline in sales and a 1% fall in market share over the year, new data from NIQ has revealed.
It comes as supermarket sales have slowed in the four weeks to 2 November to 4% year-on-year, down from 4.7% in the previous month.
This has been attributed to shoppers holding back on spending in preparation for Black Friday and Christmas.
According to NIQ, sales of general merchandise fell 1.4% in value terms, with volume sales falling 5.5%.
Kantar and NIQ data both show that Britain’s fastest growing grocers were Ocado and Lidl, with sales growth of 16.1% and 11.95% over the 12 week period to 2 November respectively. M&S placed third with a sales growth of 11.4%.
Meanwhile, Tesco’s sales rose by 4.7% and Sainsbury’s rose by 4.7%, and both had a rise in market share.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NIQ UK, said: “Shoppers so far have been cautious and it’s evident that they are saving on grocery essentials to be able to afford treats and indulgences and we have a polarised consumer with 50% of households continuing to feel pressure on personal finances.”
Asda recently unveiled plans to invest £13m into store hours over the upcoming Golden Quarter as it aims to ensure more staff are available during the busy period.
