Retailers eagerly await the Christmas period, as do the rest of us, hoping it will reward them with bountiful sales as people go gift-shopping for the festive season. The much-anticipated time of year proved strong for many of the U.K.’s biggest stores, including the Fortune 500 Europe-listed trio Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Marks & Spencer.
In the supermarket category, sales were up 5%, 3.5%, and 6%, respectively, among Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Lidl in the four weeks to Dec. 29 covering the Christmas holiday. The boom in spending was driven by average households making 17 shopping visits during the month, marking the busiest time since March 2020, according to market research firm Kantar.
