UK supermarkets posted robust sales over the festive period, but record levels of promotions in the grocery sector did not deliver a last-minute rush of shoppers before Christmas.

According to market research company Nielsen, grocers delivered sales growth of 4.2 per cent in the Christmas fortnight, partly driven by hefty promotional activity at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda.

Nielsen senior manager of retailer services Mike Watkins said: “The last 2 weeks were a little disappointing, but it’s the numbers that we were expecting. The impact of the deep promotions by the top four multiples kept like-for-like sales growth above inflation levels of 3 per cent, but they did not grow total food sales any further.

“The market slowed by December 15 and never really took off again. Had momentum continued, shoppers would have spent about£300 million more on food, drink and general merchandise at the grocery multiples over December than they did."

Shoppers spent£5.7 billion on food, drink and seasonal non-foods at supermarkets in the two weeks to December 29, helped by Christmas Day being on a Tuesday – which meant an extra two shopping days in Christmas week.

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