During a moment of conversation a few days ago with a friend, the question of market share for supermarkets in Australia came up. Just what size actually are each of these businesses? Neither of us knew the answer at the time, so a little while later I did some research online.
First relevant post I found was here at morningstar.com.au — an article called The supermarket wars: Aldi gaining on Woolworths and Coles written by Nicki Bourlioufas and published on the 16th of February 2023.
In it are these two statements:
Woolworths’ share of the grocery market was the greatest at 36% in 2021-22, followed by Coles at 28% and 9% for Aldi.
The rest of the grocery market was held by independent supermarkets such as IGA and Foodworks and independent grocery stores.
So, based on Nicki's article alone, from the 1st of June 2021 to the 31st of June 2022 Woolworths had a market share of 36 percent, Coles had a market share of 28 percent and Aldi had a market share of 9 percent. The remaining 27 percent of the total market was captured by all the rest.
Well, how does that remaining 27 percent split between all the players within?
Doesn't say...
I'd like some idea, so I read the Wikipedia article on Independent Grocers of Australia (IGA), which has this statement:
In 2019, it was reported that IGA had 7% of the grocery market in Australia
This figure was quoted from an ABC news article which, judging by the language used, is in turn citing market research from 'IBISWorld,' though I couldn't find any link or citation to a source in the news article.
And additionally, that was 2019 — different timeframe. Might be a bit dated for 2024, but it's something.
The relevant statement is:
Metcash, which is IGA, has 7 per cent.
And the article is Supermarkets are learning there is more to selling food than just price, written by Andrew Robertson and published 29th of November 2019. Link here
The third relevant article I found online is possibly the latest. Why possibly? Because the title is Australia Market Overview 2023, but the URL is:
https://www.huntexportadvice.com/post/australia-market-overview-2021
So which year is it?
I'm going with '23 after reading, as the full text refers to that year throughout. Likely just a typo in the URL, or a case of directory recycling on the server. No matter, here's the relevance:
The Woolworths Group is the market leader with a share of 37% of the market followed by Coles 28%, Aldi 10% and Metcash 7%.
No sources are listed in the article and authorship is not made clear, however the contact details listed on the site are for a Jayne Hunt and it appears the whole website exists for Jayne's consulting business.
But what of the sources...
Well, anyway that'll do for now, I have some answers.
Market share; supermarkets; Australia; 2023:
Woolworths: 37%
Coles: 28%
Aldi: 10%
Metcash / IGA: 7%
Everyone else: 18%
Hopefully they're accurate!
See a mistake? Something to add? Want to list your favourite pancake toppings? I'd like to know! Comment away...
All citations archived:
Morningstar is an investment research and financial services corporation headquartered in the USA
The ABC is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
IBISworld is a multinational private industry research publishing company, also headquartered in the USA.