Sales growth in the UK’s grocers slowed over the last quarter, according to the most recent statistics from Kantar Worldpanel, adding to signals of increasing consumer caution.

The research group said today (1 March) that growth slowed slightly to 3.9% over the 12 weeks ended 20 February, compared to 4.2% during the prior period.

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Speaking about the results, Kantar Worldpanel retail analyst Fraser McKevitt said: “With economic uncertainty increasingly in the news it is no surprise that shoppers are being cautious with their spending. However, while the discounters are performing well this is not due to an increase in new shoppers, but rather because their existing customers are spending more with them. The majority of people continued to seek value through promotions in the mainstream retailers, rather than trading down to the discounters.”

Sainsbury’s and Morrisons outperformed the market over the quarter, with Sainsbury’s increasing its share by 5.2%, while Morrisons was up 4.5%.

Tesco and Asda performed slightly behind the market, up 3.5% and 3.1%, respectively.

Describing Asda’s performance over the period, RBS analyst Justin Scarborough said: “For all Asda’s noise on its Price Guarantee, its sales trends have moved backwards.”

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McKevitt said that 2011 has seen a “return to strong growth from the discounters”, with Aldi and Lidl delivering double-digit growth. Aldi now holds 3.1% of the market, up on the 2.8% recorded last year, while Lidl has 2.4%, up from 2.2%

The Co-operative’s market share stabilised at 6.7% over the period, but, Kantar Worldpanel said it is a drop on the 7.4% share recorded a year ago.