London, Aug 20 - British low-cost supermarket chains Asda and Wm Morrison led the sector with over 8 percent quarterly sales growth in the 12 weeks to Aug. 9, according to research by data group Nielsen.
Nielsen said like-for-like sales were up nearly 8 percent at Wal-Mart-owned Asda, Britain's second biggest supermarket, while Morrison's were up over 9 percent. It said customers were looking for cheaper deals in a period of higher inflation and economic slowdown.
"Shoppers are clearly taking advantage of the short-term price cuts and promotional deals that all of the major supermarkets have been running to help keep spending within their family budgets," said Mike Watkins, senior manager of retailer services at Nielsen.
The data company said overall sales climbed 5.8 percent during the period, just below an average of around 6 percent over the rest of the year.
"Seeing this sector slow is quite a stark reflection of the state of high street retailing in general. Consumers are hunting out good value," Watkins added.
Nielsen said Asda had strengthened its position as second biggest British supermarket behind Tesco, increasing its market share to 15.3 percent from 14.7 percent a year ago.
The more upmarket J Sainsbury, in third position, edged its share 0.1 percent higher to 14.1 percent on a below average sales growth of 4.2 percent.