New Frontier bulletin: talking turkey – the recent performance of UK grocery retailers

As the curtain falls on 2017, grocery retailers are this week publishing their Christmas results. Media and industry commentators single out the 1-year underlying like-for-like sales growth figure (“LFLs”) posted by all major grocery retailers, with those at the top end of the range hailed as the most successful. However, we need to put these recent results in context after a tough few years for UK grocery retailers. And to fully understand the current dynamics, we first need to know the history.

Frontier’s new bulletin looks back at LFL performance over the past five years, how relative performance has fluctuated, and who has been winning and losing overall.

Mark Johnson, in Frontier’s Retail and Consumer team says, “By combining LFLs over a longer period, rather than focusing solely on the latest set of results, it is clear how much there is still to do for grocery retailers in the UK. The Big 4 retailers still typically have less money coming into each store than they did five years ago. Continuing to deliver against turnaround plans, whilst integrating new businesses across different channels, will be crucial to success in years to come.”

Frontier regularly advises retailers on business strategy.

For more information, please contact media@frontier-economics.com, or call +44 (0)20 7031 7000.