Consumer spending in grocery stores in Great Britain Q1 2015 to Q1 2017, by brand

Between 2015 and 2017, the major supermarket chain Tesco’s was the first choice in terms of consumer spending. For the 12-week period ending March 26th, 2017, total consumer expenditure in its stores amounted to approximately 7.1 billion British pounds. Over the period in consideration, Sainsbury’s and Asda ranked second and third respectively, while the difference in their consumer expenditure was relatively minor.

Big four

Great Britain’s ‘big four’ include Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons. In the 12-week period running up to August 12th, 2018, the combined market share of Britain’s top four supermarkets stood at nearly 70 percent. Rising inflation rates and resulting food price increases have likely led to consumers looking for cheaper alternatives. As a result, discount supermarkets such as Aldi, Lidl, and The Cooperative have been continuously gaining a larger market share in the United Kingdom.

Online grocery shopping

Despite physical stores making up the largest share on the grocery shopping market in the United Kingdom, weekly online sales in food stores have more than doubled between 2010 and 2017. As of the third quarter of 2017, online grocery sales amounted to approximately 161.3 million British pounds.