United Kingdom flag United Kingdom: Buying and Selling

The distribution network in the United Kingdom

Evolution of the Sector

According to the Office for National Statistics, retail sales volumes fell by 1.4% in March 2022, following a fall of 0.5% in February, but were 2.2% above their pre-coronavirus February 2020 levels. Retail sales values fell by 0.2% in March 2022, following a rise of 0.4% in February, but were 10.1% above their pre-coronavirus February 2020 levels. The largest contribution to the fall came from non-store retailing in which sales volumes fell by 7.9%. The proportion of retail sales online fell to 26.0% in March 2022, its lowest proportion since February 2020 (22.7%). Food store sales volumes fell by 1.1% over the month to March 2022 and have fallen each month since November 2021.

According to the figures provided by USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, the UK grocery market was valued at $297 billion (£205 billion) in August 2020. This is an increase of 6.7% on 2019. Groceries account for 11% of total household spending in the UK, making it the third largest area of expenditure, following housing and transport. Food and grocery sales account for more than 40% of total UK retail sales (Retail Economics, 2020). There are more than 87,000 grocery stores in the UK. These are split into four sectors:

  • Supermarkets: Four supermarket chains dominate UK food retailing, accounting for 66% of the market.
  • Discounters: In the 12 weeks ending April 17, 2022, the discounters combined market share reached 13.4 percent of the British grocery market.
  • Internet or Online Shopping - The value of the UK online grocery market has seen tremendous growth in recent years and in 2019 was valued at $15.2 billion (£12.7 billion).
  • Click and Collect - With the increasing popularity of online retailing, supermarkets and other retailers introduced Click and Collect which has become hugely popular and is rapidly growing. Click-and-Collect is a concept, that brings together the benefits of online retailing with the advantages of maintaining a store-based retailing presence.
  • Convenience stores: the UK’s convenience store market is highly fragmented, with a large number of retail operators. It can be divided into : Co-operative stores, Gas stations, Convenience outlets  at supermarkets, Non-affiliated independent, Traditional convenience store.
Market share

Grocery sales in the UK are dominated by Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda/ Wal-Mart and Morrison's. These four trademarks had a combined market share of 66% of the UK grocery market, divided as followed (Kantar World Panel, April 2022):

  • Tesco - 27.3% market share
  • Sainsbury's - 15% market share
  • Asda/ Wal-mart - 14.1% market share
  • Morrison's - 9.5% market share
  • Aldi - 8.8% market share
  • Lidl - 6.6% market share
Retail Sector Organisations
British Retail Consortium
Institute of Grocery Distribution

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Latest Update: March 2024

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