Tesco UK Grocery Market Share Falls To 30.7% For 12 Wks-Kantar

20th Jul 2010 14:19

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Tesco PLC's (TSCO.LN) U.K. grocery market share fell slightly to 30.7% in the 12 weeks ended July 11, according to Kantar Worldpanel market share data Tuesday. Tesco, the U.K.'s biggest retailer by sales, saw its market share fall from 30.8% for the same period last year. The nation's second biggest retailer, Asda Group Ltd., saw its market share fall to 16.8% in the 12 week period from 17% a year earlier. Asda is a subsidiary of the world's biggest retailer Wal-Mart Store Inc. (WMT) of the U.S. J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) remained in third spot with a market share of 16.1% over the 12 week period ended July 11, slightly up from 16% a year earlier, according to Kantar. William Morrison Supermarkets PLC (MRW.LN) saw a rise to 11.8% from 11.6%, according to Kantar, which monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K. Grocery market growth reached 4.4% this month, the highest since February, as consumers enjoyed the FIFA World Cup celebrations and basked in the warm weather, Kantar said. Sales were bolstered by aggressive promotions among the major retailers, with a record 34.5% sold on promotion. Fraser McKevitt, retail analyst for Kantar Worldpanel, said: "We've seen consumers spending at the fastest rate since Christmas, taking advantage of extremely competitive promotions on traditional summer items such as beer and barbecue foods." -By Ian Walker, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9296; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 20, 2010 09:19 ET (13:19 GMT)