Supermarket chains experienced a “whopper” Christmas period in Britain, with collective record sales of £13.7 billion achieved last month, latest data shows.
Firms saw their highest level of transactions in December since 2019, according to marketing data and analytics company Kantar.
There was high demand for festive food with volumes of parsnips and chilled gravy up by double digits, and shoppers buying plenty of pigs in blankets and turkeys.
The firm added that Britons made 488 million trips to the supermarkets over the four weeks to December 24. Average household spending was at an all-time high of £477 across the month, an increase of £28 on 2022.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “As we expected, this Christmas was a whopper. Friday 22 December turned out to be the most popular shopping day, when just over 25 million trips were made and consumers spent £803 million in physical stores – that’s 85% more than the average Friday in 2023. Online’s share of the market held steady at 11.6%, as nearly one in five households got a delivery in for the big day.”
McKevitt added: “The rate of inflation is coming down at the fastest pace we have ever recorded, but consumers are still facing pretty hefty pressures on their budgets.”
Kantar found that Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose accounted for a combined market share of 70% during the 12 weeks to Christmas Eve, but it pointed out that Lidl and Aldi continue to be the fastest growing grocers year on year.
