Supermarket sales rose by 3.1 per cent in the 12 weeks to 3 December as retailers gear up for the crucial Christmas trading period.
The latest Kantar figures also showed that grocery inflation now stands at 3.6 per cent, its highest level since 2013, as prices continue to rise across the sector.
Aldi was the fastest-growing retailer during the period with sales up 15.1 per cent year on year, followed by Lidl at 14.5 per cent. The top four enjoyed the ninth consecutive period of sales increases, with Tesco leading the charge and seeing a 2.5 per cent sales growth on last year.
Sainsbury’s grew sales by 2.0 per cent year on year, with its market share falling to 16.3 per cent. Meanwhile Morrisons’ market share fell to 10.6 per cent, despite a sales boost of 1.4 per cent year on year. Sales also grew at Asda – up 1.2 per cent – with market share down by 0.3 percentage points.
Waitrose and Iceland both increased sales, up by 1.6 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively. Co-op’s sales fell by 1.5 per cent, taking market share down 0.3 percentage points to 6.0 per cent.
Kantar’s Fraser McKevitt said: “Christmas day falls on a Monday this year – last time that happened, in 2006, the Friday before was the most popular day for grocery shopping that year.
“If we see a similar pattern in 2017, Friday 22 December is likely to win out as the grocers enjoy not only the biggest shopping day of 2017, but the most successful ever recorded.'
Although online grocery sales growth has slowed to just 2.8 per cent during the past 12 weeks, it is still likely to be a record December for grocery e-commerce., McKevitt said. “Internet specialist Ocado grew ahead of the online market during the latest quarter. Sales were up by 5.2 per cent as market share remained flat year on year at 1.3 per cent,” he added.
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