Special offers buoy UK grocery sales-Nielsen

LONDON May 27 (Reuters) - Cash-strapped Britons are homing in on bargains and promotions, with almost a third of all sales at grocers generated by goods on "special offer," a survey showed on Wednesday.

Market researchers Nielsen said promotions accounted for a record 32 percent of all sales in the four weeks ended May 16, compared with the typical level of about 28 percent at this time of year.

Nielsen said sales at grocery retailers rose 5.1 percent in the 12 weeks to May 16 on the same time last year, with Wm Morrison Supermarkets (MRW.L) the fastest-growing of Britain's top four chains with growth of 7.9 percent.

This chimes with findings of a survey by market researchers TNS WorldPanel, also published on Wednesday. [ID:LR948365]

Nielsen said Asda (WMT.N) and J Sainsbury (SBRY.L) followed with growth rates of 7.4 percent and 7.3 percent respectively, while industry leader Tesco (TSCO.L) lagged on 4.8 percent.

Following is a summary of Nielsen's findings for the 12 weeks to May 16:

% Share of total grocery

market spend

12 wks to 12 wks to Value sales

17/05/08 18/05/09 pct change y/y Tesco 28.1 28.0 4.8 Asda 15.2 15.6 7.4 Sainsbury 14.5 14.8 7.3 Morrison 10.4 10.6 7.9 Co-Op 6.2 6.1 2.5 Waitrose 3.5 3.5 4.0 M&S 3.7 3.7 3.6 Somerfield 3.6 3.2 -6.0 Iceland 1.6 1.8 13.0 (Reporting by Mark Potter; Editing by David Cowell)