Sainsbury's has gained ground on rival Asda by luring more shoppers into its stores, figures showed yesterday.
Sainsbury's - the number three supermarket behind Asda - increased its share of the UK grocery market to 15.9 per cent in the 12 weeks to April 24 from 15.5 per cent last year, according to market research group TNS.
Asda's share fell slightly to 16.5 per cent, but both were still dwarfed by Tesco, which increased its share to 29.8 per cent from 27.5 per cent.
The improvement by Sainsbury's follows a tough period for the firm, which hit a new low in its 135-year history in November when it announced half-year losses for the first time.
The former number one chain has been trying to fight back with a sales-led turnaround programme launched late last year.
Elsewhere, Morrisons-branded stores continued to grow, but the wider group's progress was dragged down by outlets still not converted from the Safeway format which it bought for £3 billion last year.
