Aldi surpasses Asda on food and drink sales for first time

Aldi has overtaken Asda on food and drink sales in a fresh blow to the embattled supermarket chain.

The German discounter surpassed Asda following higher sales of fresh poultry, fish, eggs and fruit, according to Kantar figures seen by The Telegraph.

Aldi accounted for 10.6% of food and drink sales across the sector in the 12 weeks to 23 March, overtaking Asda’s market share which fell from 10.5% to 10.4%.

These figures are distributed privately to supermarkets and do not include sales of alcohol, toiletries, household goods or beauty items. Including the additional items, Asda is still the third largest grocer in the UK behind Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

The new report comes as returning Asda veteran Allan Leighton is spearheading a turnaround of the supermarket.

The chairman said last month that the retailer will be undertaking a “substantive and well backed programme of investment in price, availability and the shopping experience” in the year ahead.

He cautioned the spend will “materially reduce our profit in this year as we start to rebuild and reset the business. I look at this as an investment warning rather than a profit warning”.

A spokesman for Asda told the publication that the Kantar data was “highly selective and does not include key grocery categories such as alcoholic drinks, pet food, laundry, household products and toiletries”.

They added: “We have a clear plan to deliver outstanding value for our customers and since relaunching Rollback at the end of January we have reduced prices on a third of our entire range.

“This focus on lowering prices for hard-working families is reflected in the latest and most widely followed Kantar data, as Asda inflated behind the discounters and clearly maintained its position as the third-largest supermarket in the UK.”

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