SBRY Sainsbury (j) Plc

By Ian Walker

LONDON--Asda reclaimed its number two spot in the latest game of leapfrog with J. Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) Tuesday as supermarkets continue to fight for market share, although both still lost share according to a survey.

In the latest 12-week period ended Aug. 16, Asda--a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)--saw its market share fall to 16.6%, from 17.2% for the comparable 12 weeks ended Aug. 17, 2014. Sales fell 2.5% to 4.15 billion pounds ($6.52 billion). Sainsbury's market share fell to 16.3% from 16.4% but sales rose 0.1% to GBP4.06 billion, according to Kantar, which monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K.

In the earlier 12-week period ended July 19, Sainsbury's reclaimed the number two position for the first time since January.

"As anticipated, Asda has retaken its position as Britain's second largest supermarket, despite a fall in sales of 2.5% and a 0.6 percentage point fall in market share," Fraser McKevitt head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel said.

"The retailer's greater focus on non-food items means its market share is traditionally higher in the summer, and it's expected that Sainsbury's will again become the number two retailer towards Christmas," he said.

Once again, upmarket store Waitrose and German discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to grow market share and sales. For the 12 weeks ended Aug. 16, Waitrose sales rose 3.7% to GBP1.26 billion and its market share rose to 5.1%, from 4.9% in the comparable 12 weeks last year.

Aldi and Lidl's combined market share rose to 9.7% in the 12 weeks ended Aug. 16, compared with 8.4% in the year earlier period. Aldi sales have risen 18% to GBP1.4 billion, while Lidl's sales are up 13% to GBP1.01 billion.

Number one retailer Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN)'s market share fell to 28.3% in the 12 weeks, compared with 28.8% in the comparable period ended Aug. 17, 2014. Tesco sales were down 0.9% over the period to GBP7.06 billion.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC (MRW.LN)'s market share slipped to 10.8%, from 11%, while sales are 1.1% lower at GBP2.69 billion.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 25, 2015 05:19 ET (09:19 GMT)

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