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(Alliance News) - UK grocery sales reached record levels in December, but there was less welcome spike in food price inflation, a report on Tuesday showed.
According to market research firm Kantar, household spending on take-home groceries hit a new high this Christmas at GBP460 on average. Overall take-home sales at the grocers rose by 2.1% over the four weeks to 29 December compared with last year, topping GBP13 billion for the first time.
For the 12 weeks to December 29, total grocery sales rose 2.2% to GBP36.83 billion from GBP36.06 billion a year prior.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail & consumer insight at Kantar, said it was a "solid Christmas" at the supermarkets showing people were clearly in the mood to celebrate and spend.
However, despite the festive cheer, he noted grocery price inflation has ticked up to 3.7%, its highest level since March 2024. In the four weeks to December 1, inflation had been 2.6%, rising from 2.3% in the previous 4-week period.
"In contrast to reports of disappointing footfall across the rest of the high street, it was a very different story in the world of grocery. 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. As anticipated, Monday 23 December was the most popular shopping day of the year, with sales a whopping 30% higher than any other day during 2024," McKevitt added.
Britain's largest grocer Tesco PLC saw sales grow 5.0% in the 12 weeks to December 29 to GBP10.49 billion from GBP9.99 billion a year ago. Its 0.8 percentage point share gain was the biggest of any supermarket, taking its hold of the market to 28.5%.
J Sainsbury PLC achieved its highest share since December 2019 at 16.0%, up from 15.8% a year ago, thanks to sales growth which outpaced the market at 3.5%. Sales in the 12 weeks reached GBP5.91 billion, up from GBP5.71 billion.
Sales at online retailer Ocado, the joint venture between Marks and Spencer Group PLC and Ocado Group PLC jumped 9.6% to GBP672 million from GBP613 million.
Morrisons sales rose by 0.4% to GBP3.18 billion from GBP3.17 billion with its share standing at 8.6%, down from 8.8% Asda now holds 12.5% of the market, down from 13.5%, as sales fell 5.8% to GBP4.59 billion from GBP4.87 billion.
Discount retailers Lidl and Aldi achieved their highest ever Christmas shares at 7.3% and 10.0% respectively, rising from 7.0% and 9.9%. Lidl secured the fastest footfall growth of any retailer as spending through its tills increased by 6.6%. Aldi’s sales were up 2.9% to GBP3.68 billion from GBP3.58 billion a year ago, as it attracted an additional 315,000 customers to its stores.
Waitrose market share remained at 4.6% with spending increasing by 2.1% to GBP1.68 billion from GBP1.65 billion.
Iceland’s sales rose by 1.0% to GBP856 million from GBP848 million, giving the frozen food specialist a 2.3% market share. Convenience retailer Co-op's portion of the market is now 5.3%, down from 5.4% a year ago.
Outside of the grocers, food and drink spending at M&S increased by 8.7%, driven by strong performance in its core fresh and chilled range, up 9%, and ambient lines, up 11%, across the 12 weeks.
Shares in Tesco were 1.5% lower at 367.30 pence each in London on Tuesday. Sainsbury fell 1.6% to 272.80p, Ocado dropped 0.3% to 307.20p and M&S eased 1.0% to 379.00p.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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