Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Lidl post strong growth in Christmas trading says Kantar

The biggest winner over the festive period was the country’s largest grocer Tesco, which logged a year-on-year sales rise of 5% in the 12 weeks to 29 December, taking its market share to 28.5%.

Also ahead of the rest of the pack were Sainsbury’s and discount supermarket Lidl, posting growth of 3.5% and 6.6%, respectively. Overall, take-home grocery sales grew by 2.2% during the three-month festive run-up. Shoppers spent £13bn at the supermarket in the four weeks of December. 

Less impressive figures were seen at Asda where Kantar data showed sales sliding by 5.8%, knocking a whole percentage point off its market share versus last year. Sales at Morrisons were up by 0.4% on the previous Christmas trading period. 

The figures suggest that grocery spending avoided the drab results seen by other parts of UK retail. “The average household made nearly 17 separate shopping trips this December, delivering the busiest month for the retailers since the pre-lockdown rush in March 2020,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.

Data released by the BRC on Tuesday showed relatively flat trading over the golden quarter, with year-on-year growth of just 0.4% in the three months to December. 

Kantar also said that annual grocery price inflation reached 3.7% for the four-week period ending 29 December 2024, its highest level since March 2024, and up from 2.6% in the November period. Products with the fastest rising prices include chilled smoothies and juices, chocolate and skincare. 

Consumers still showed their readiness to spend more on premium products for Christmas. Sales of branded goods went up by 4.2%, while premium own-label lines increased by 14.6%.

More trading was done online this year too, with 5.6 million households using delivery or click-and-collect services at least once during December. Kantar said Ocado had a sales boost of 9.6% over the 12-week trading period.