Fear of recession, rising fuel bills and belt-tightening are driving increasing numbers of consumers into discount grocery chains in a bid to reduce their weekly shopping bills, the latest figures from TNS Worldpanel revealed yesterday.

Fear of recession, rising fuel bills and belt-tightening are driving increasing numbers of consumers into discount grocery chains in a bid to reduce their weekly shopping bills, the latest figures from TNS Worldpanel revealed yesterday.

While the top four supermarkets continued to perform in line with recent trends in the 12 weeks to August 10, the market share of the budget operators, such as Lidl, Aldi and Iceland, all racked up spectacular growth rates.

Aldi's market share grew 19.8% to give it a record 3% share of the UK grocery market. However, the TNS study notes that the growth was "driven by new stores and new shoppers."

Nonetheless, spend levels for existing shoppers remained unchanged and quite low compared with Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrison. The typical monthly spend per household is £45 for Aldi, compared with £126 for Tesco.

Lidl's market share grew 12.3% to 2.4%, as consumers appear to be consolidating shopping trips and foregoing discretionary items.

TNS said: "Several commentators have stated that the middle classes are flocking to the discounters. In fact, new discount shoppers are predominantly younger households with children, which is more logical - their budgets will have come under strongest pressure."

Frozen food chain Iceland's growth of 14.4% is the strongest for several years and also appears to reflect the discount message.

There was more evidence of customers turning away from higher-priced stores with another survey from Nielsen showing Marks & Spencer's share of grocery sales during the four weeks to August 8, falling 2.1% compared to a year ago.

Among the heavyweights, TNS noted, Morrison's and Asda grew ahead of the market and saw their respective market shares rise, but Tesco and Sainsbury grew by 6.5% and 5.3% respectively, behind the total market.

TNS's figures showed overall industry sales grew by more than 7.2% on a year earlier - fuelled by food price inflation of 6.8% in the three months to mid-July.

That was "clearly better than many non-grocery sectors, although this apparent buoyancy is largely reflecting inflation, with volumes effectively static", TNS said.

Earlier this week, Asda reported sales of its budget ranges had jumped by 20% - suggesting shoppers are continuing to put more bargain-priced goods in their trolleys as the economic downturn tightens its grip.