You’re probably pretty loyal to your favourite supermarket. There’s something strange that grocery shopping does to people, forging lifelong loyalties based on who does the best own-brand bread. Whatever your views on Tesco Cornflakes or Taste the Difference tomatoes are, one store has been managing to do the impossible: convert shoppers and become the UK’s fastest growing supermarket chain.
Despite not offering many well known brands on their shelves, Marks & Spencer’s has actually become the nation’s biggest up-and-comer in the supermarket industry, officially taking the title from Lidl who held it last time the numbers were crunched back in February.
According to research from the Kantar group, M&S’s food hall sales rose by 12.4 percent in the last quarter, which is higher than any of their competitors including Lidl and Aldi. Despite closing down department stores earlier this year, it seems that its food stores are only going from strength to strength.
In fact, experts think that the focus on investing into M&S food is a huge part of why its market share has increased so much, as well as its push to get more people to do a weekly shop there, instead of just buying Percy Pigs and picky bits as a treat. M&S has done this by reducing the price of hundreds of basics since last October; and clearly the tactic is working.
The retail giant is also opening two brand new flagship stores in Bristol and Bath, so it seems that things are going pretty well across the board.
On the opposite end of the supermarket-success spectrum, Morrison’s sales increased by only 2.8 percent year on year, making it the slowest in the industry, although it’s still seeing growth so there are no real losers here.
Only time will tell if this signals a new era for M&S, where people other than middle-class mums do their shops there and Lidl is forever relegated to the sidelines, or if it’s just a brief moment of glory. Either way, it’s certainly one to watch.
Beloved British brands and Time Out
As the custodian of British city life with all its ups and downs, we at Time Out have up-to-date info about what’s closing, what’s new and everything in-between. Here’s the full list of UK high street stores closing in 2024, where the next UNIQLO store is opening and which TGI Friday's stores are closing.
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