Supermarkets ring up record Christmas despite slower growth
Shoppers spread their spending between different retailers as they sought out deals.
Supermarkets rang up another record Christmas, new data has shown, despite a slowdown in sector growth.
Shoppers spent a record £29.3 billion on groceries in the 12 weeks to December 30, which was £450 million more than this time last year, according to Kantar Worldpanel.
Asda came out top of the “big four” grocers with a 0.7% rise in sales, while Sainsbury’s was the weakest of the pack with a 0.4% decline.
Discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to put pressure on the established players. The two had a combined market share of 12.8%, the highest ever for Christmas.
Co-op was the only retailer to beat its 2017 growth rate. It also increased its market share for the seventh period in a row, a trend which is set to continue as it plans 100 store openings this year.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said the overall spend was tempered by lower inflation of 1.3%.
He said: “This slower inflation rate helped shoppers to manage their festive budgets, with 60% of customers looking to make savvier decisions to make their money go further over the holidays.”
New figures from Nielsen showed a similar trend, with overall grocery sales up 1.8% in the last four weeks, compared with 3.7% last year.
Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer insight, put this down to changing consumer grocery shopping habits.
Retailers are now kicking off a January price war, with both Morrisons and Tesco slashing prices on core ranges and all of the big four cutting fuel prices.
