ALDI overtook Morrisons on the 4th place – how wil this affect UK grocery market?

By: Trademagazin editor Date: 2022. 08. 23. 11:32

Last weekend, the inevitable finally happened: Aldi overtook Morrisons as the UK’s fourth largest grocer. After months of hinting at the possibility – and the grocers’ market shares inching ever closer – it had become increasingly clear that Aldi was going to take Morrisons’ place in the ‘Big Four’ grocer listing, alongside Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda. The only real question was when.

Data from Kantar revealed that Aldi’s UK grocery market share rose to 9.2% in the four weeks to 7 August, while Morrisons remained flat at 9%

Being knocked so unceremoniously off the grocery podium will not have come as a shock to Morrisons – although with analysts largely predicting that the takeover would happen in 2023, it may have expected to hold onto its position a little longer.

“It’s little surprise that Aldi has now arrived in the Big Four,” says retail analyst Ian Scott. “It’s not so much that Morrison is particularly failing, more that Aldi’s growth was always going to bring them here eventually.”

Aldi’s market share has rapidly accelerated in the post-pandemic landscape, as the economic downturn and resulting focus on saving money has seen shoppers increasingly turn to the ‘discounters’ for their weekly shop. As a German retailer, Aldi has a different business model to UK-based supermarkets, operating in a way which allows it to buy differently, offer better pricing structures and work off lower margins.

Grocery Gazette