Consumers made December the busiest month for supermarkets since the pre-lockdown rush in March 2020 despite a jump in grocery price inflation, new figures show.
Household spending on take-home groceries hit a record high this Christmas at £460 on average as inflation across supermarkets jumped from November’s 2.6% to 3.7% – its highest level since March, according to analysts Kantar.
The average household made nearly 17 separate supermarket trips last month.
Grocery sales surpassed £13 billion over the four weeks for the first time ever, as prices rose fastest across products such as chilled smoothies and juices, chocolate, confectionery and skincare, and fell across dog food, cat food and household paper products.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “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.
“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.”
Sales growth for branded goods accelerated to 4.2% as shoppers splashed out on festive treats, while premium own-label lines jumped by 14.6%.
Sales of sparkling wine and Champagne grew by 4.4% to a total of £187 million across the month, but 11% of the population bought a no or low alcohol drink, up from less than 10% last year.
Mr McKevitt said: “We’ve all got our own festive favourites, but it seems that age differences come into play too.
“Under-45s are far more likely to pick up a sausage roll, and they also go for a slightly more Mediterranean spin, being the most likely to reach for panettone as well as antipasti and party food as part of their Christmas shopping.
“Meanwhile, over-45s account for the majority of Christmas cake and fortified wine sales. The seasonal biscuit, however, knows no bounds, appealing across the generations.”
Britain’s largest grocer, Tesco, saw a 5% increase in sales over the 12 weeks to December 29, its 0.8 percentage point share gain the biggest of any supermarket and taking its share of the market to 28.5%.
Sainsbury’s achieved its highest share since December 2019 at 16% thanks to sales growth which outpaced the market at 3.5%.
Morrisons sales rose by 0.4% with its share standing at 8.6%, while Asda now holds 12.5% of the market.
Discount retailers Lidl and Aldi achieved their highest ever Christmas shares at 7.3% and 10% respectively, with the former securing the fastest footfall growth of any grocer as spending through its tills increased by 6.6%.
Waitrose’s market share remained at 4.6% with spending increasing by 2.1%, while food and drink spending at Marks & Spencer rose by 8.7%.
Online spending for the month reached a record £1.6 billion, helping Ocado to boost its sales by 9.6% over the 12 weeks, taking its overall share to 1.8%.
