Tesco market share falls again but decline slows, Kantar Worldpanel says

Beleaguered supermarket group Tesco's market share fell again in the last three months, although it is showing signs of improvement, according to industry figures on Tuesday.

Its market share fell 3.6% in the 12 weeks to 12 October against the equivalent period last year, its best performance since June, data from retail researchers Kantar Worldpanel showed.

Tesco, which is due to release first-half results on Thursday following a revision of its profit forecasts, "may be turning a corner", Kantar said.

Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s sales slipped back, down 3.1% and 1.8% respectively. Wal-Mart's Asda rose 1% and John Lewis's Waitrose lifted 6.8%, but discounters Aldi and Lidl were the real winners in the period, boosting share by 27.3% and 18.1% respectively.

Kantar measures market share using all spending through main store tills, but excluding petrol and in-store concessions.

Grocery inflation fell for the 13th month in a row and now stands at -0.2% for the 12 weeks to 12 October, meaning shoppers are now paying less for a representative basket of groceries than they did in 2013.

That was another record low since Kantar began recording grocery inflation in October 2006, which it said reflected the impact of Aldi and Lidl and the market’s competitive response, as well as deflation in some major areas such as vegetables and milk.