Top Four Retailers Get Boost From Easter Eggs, Hot Cross Buns

The top four U.K. supermarket chains all grew sales in the 12 weeks ended April 23, as customers splashed out on Easter eggs and hot cross buns, despite continuing to lose market share to German retailers Aldi and Lidl, Kantar Worldpanel said Wednesday.

Over the three months, British shoppers splashed out 325 million pounds ($419 million) on Easter eggs, with almost three quarters of the population buying at least one, Kantar said, adding that the average price paid for an Easter egg was 8.6% higher at GBP1.65 than the comparable period in 2016. It said 20 million packs of hot cross buns were bought in the Easter week alone.

Tesco PLC's (TSCO.LN) sales grew 1.9% to GBP7.26 billion in the 12 weeks ended April 23, although its market share fell to 27.5% from 28% for the comparable period ended April 24, 2016.

Sainsbury PLC's (SBRY.LN) market share in the 12 weeks fell to 16.1% from 16.5%, while sales rose 1.7% to GBP4.25 billion, Kantar said. Kantar monitors the grocery purchases of 25,000 households in the U.K.

Asda, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), saw its market share fall to 15.6% from 16% in the comparable period, although sales rose 0.8% to GBP4.1 billion.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC's (MRW.LN) market share fell to 10.4% from 10.6%, but sales were 2.2% higher at GBP2.76 billion.

Upmarket retailer Waitrose's market share was unchanged at 5.2% in the 12 weeks ended April 23, while sales climbed 3.1% to GBP1.36 billion, according to Kantar.

Aldi's sales in the 12 weeks ended April 23 grew 18% to GBP1.81 billion and its market share rose to 6.9%, compared with 6.0% a year earlier.

Lidl's sales rose 18% to GBP1.32 billion, while its market share rose to 5% from 4.4% in the 12 weeks ended April 24, 2016.

Separately, a survey by Nielsen Homescan showed that Aldi's market share had risen to 8% in the 12 weeks ended April 22, from 7% in the comparable period, while Lidl's has risen to 5.2% from 4.8%. Neilsen measures buying habits through its panel of 15,000 households.

Aldi's sales rose by 13% in the 12 weeks, while Lidl's rose 11%, Nielsen said.

According to Nielsen, Tesco's market share dropped to 27.2% from 27.6% in the comparable period, Sainsbury's fell to 15.3% from 15.6%, Asda fell to 14.1% from 14.6% and Morrisons fell to 10% from 10.2%.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 03, 2017 04:09 ET (08:09 GMT)