Online searches for Sainsbury’s saw the largest fall out of all retailers from the start of December; dropping by 3,462,198 searches compared to December 2021.
According to data released this week by MediaVision, shared with Grocery Gazette, many online searches for the UK’s major supermarkets have dropped in the lead-up to Christmas, compared with the same period last year.
Rival retailers Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Iceland and Waitrose all saw sharp falls in online searches as Christmas draws closer.
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The online analytics platform revealed that of the leading supermarkets, Tesco saw a decrease in searches of 472,286 while Asda experienced a drop of 108,563 at the same time.
It was better news for the German discounters however, as both Aldi and Lidl saw 93,002 and 69,358 increases, respectively.
Total searches for Aldi came in at 2,313,418 while Lidl saw 1,258,058 searches in December, narrowing the gap on retailers such as Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.
Amid the cost-of-living crisis and surging inflation, consumers have been flocking to discount supermarkets as they hunt for the best deals – causing their market share to steadily increase – and leading Aldi to overtake Morrisons to become a member of the ‘Big 4’ over the summer.
On top of that, Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts recently announced £550m worth of investment to cut prices in store to compete with Lidl and Aldi.
MediaVision’s data also revealed that the busiest period in the lead up to Christmas was on 11 December with a total search volume of 9,761,225 across all supermarkets. However, this was down from 11,473,134 from last year’s festive peak.
“The lead up to Christmas is always a busy time for all supermarkets, but this year the cost of living has led to consumers looking for alternatives to their normal retailer of choice,” CEO at MediaVision, Louis Venter said.
“It should come as no surprise that Aldi and Lidl are seeing big increases in search, proving they are ever-more serious contenders for the UK supermarket crown.
“Sainsbury’s are finding themselves in the eye of the storm – wanting to compete on price, while known for choice and quality. A difficult balance, when people are counting the pennies,” Venter added.
