LONDON (Reuters) - Total British grocery sales were flat in the latest 12 week period and all of the country's big four supermarket groups lost market share to the discounters, industry data showed on Tuesday.
Market researcher Kantar said the subdued performance reflected tough comparisons with 2018's strong summer. Total sales had fallen 0.5% in Kantar's July data set - the first decline since June 2016.
Kantar said that of the big four grocers Sainsbury's (L:SBRY) was the best performer with a sales decline of 0.6% over the 12 weeks.
Market leader Tesco's sales fell 1.6%, while Asda's (N:WMT) and Morrisons (L:MRW) sales were down 1.5% and 2.7% respectively. Aldi and Lidl's sales were up 6.2% and 7.7% respectively.