Aldi has further closed the gap on Morrisons, in terms of market share, as it attempts to leapfrog one of its competitors as the fourth most popular UK supermarket.
It should not take long for the German discounter to achieve this, with predictions from Kantar data signalling it could happen by this time next year.
In the 12 weeks to 12 June, Aldi recorded 9.0% of the total market share, compared with 9.6% for Morrisons, according to research from Kantar.
Sales at Aldi rose by 7.9%, moving its share up versus last year by 0.8 percentage points (pps).
In the last five months, Aldi's market share has grown by 1.2 percentage points (pp), compared with a 0.3pp reduction for Morrisons.
On a five-year basis, Aldi grew 2.1pps and its fellow German discounter Lidl 1.9pps, while Morrisons lost 1.1pps.
So, on average, Aldi gained 0.42pp of market share in each of the last five years, while Morrisons lost 0.22p.
Based on historic Kantar data, therefore, Aldi is expected to become the UK's fourth most popular supermarket by June 2023 - and indications from the continent show there should be much more growth to come.
Lidl, which was the fastest-growing grocer in the latest three-month period, with sales up by 9.5% to reach a 6.9% market share, would leapfrog Morrisons in roughly four-and-a-half years.
But this could be accelerated, given the worsening cost-of-living crisis and the £380 increase in the average annual food this year (read more) shown by the latest data from the consultancy, which suggested more and more shoppers are moving their weekly shop to Aldi and Lidl.
In each of the last five months, one of either Aldi or Lidl has topped the market share growth charts.
When speaking with Proactive, Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said he believes the shift to be a combination of inflation nudging consumers towards cheaper alternatives and more discount stores opening, which provides shoppers with more options.
Fraser McKevitt, said: “The inflation number makes for difficult reading and shoppers will be watching budgets closely as the cost-of-living crisis takes its toll.
“Shoppers have swapped branded items, which have declined by 1.0%, for own-label products.
"Sales of these lines, which are often cheaper, have risen by 2.9%, boosted by Aldi and Lidl’s strong performances, both of whom have extensive own-label repertoires."
Traditionally in European grocery retail markets, discounters share around 20% of the market, McKevitt added, indicating there is still around 5% to be grabbed by Aldi and Lidl in the future.
This would mean in a few more years they would threaten third-placed Asda, which had a 13.7% market share, as well as eating away at the 14.9% of J Sainsbury PLC (LSE:SBRY) in second place.
Competition is heating up amongst supermarkets for market share, but also legalities.
Lidl claimed that Tesco (UK's largest supermarket) exploited the background of its trademarked logo for its own Clubcard discounts (read more).
The supermarket chains will spend at least £2.35mln disputing copyright issues in court on the "wordless" trademark of a blue square with a yellow circle inside it and a thin red border.