Shoppers spend £19.6bn over four weeks to 27 December, according to NIQ data, with 29 per cent of UK households buying groceries online
Online emerged as the fastest-growing channel as total supermarket sales increased by 2.5 per cent in the four-week Christmas period, according to figures from NielsenIQ (NIQ).
With 29 per cent of households opting to shop for groceries online, e-commerce share rose from 12.6 per cent to 13.5 per cent of total sales, a 9.9 per cent increase in sales value.
Shoppers buy more fresh foods at this time of the year and 32 per cent of e-commerce sales in December were of fresh foods, the biggest major category, which grew by 9.9 per cent.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NielsenIQ, said: “It’s clear that the convenience of shopping online benefitted a lot of UK shoppers over the 2025 Christmas period.
“By taking advantage of booking delivery slots in advance, shoppers could do a ‘big Christmas shop’ online, including fresh foods, which helped drive growth.
“This was then supplemented with in-store visits in the last few days before Christmas, allowing shoppers to search for further seasonal discounts, treats and indulgences.”
‘Cautious celebration’ for retailers
Watkins added: “Those retailers with sales momentum at the start of the quarter were able to extend this through to the end of December. Considering the external mood, music and the continued pressure on household finances, it was a Christmas of cautious celebration and a good four weeks for most food retailers.”
Although the total market grew by 2.5 per cent, unit sales declined by 0.2 per cent, with total till sales at the UK’s major supermarkets growing by three per cent in the four weeks to 27 December 2025.
In total, shoppers spent £19.6bn during the period with sales peaking in the week to 20 December when shoppers spent £5.3bn, the biggest week of 2025.
The fact that there was an extra day of trading the following week, with Christmas Eve falling on a Wednesday, also benefitted large, full range stores, NIQ said.
Considered purchases
While promotional spend increased to 27 per cent of sales, shoppers were more considered in what they purchased. NIQ data shows that consumers shopped more often (+1.4 per cent) on and offline for their groceries and spent a little more each time they shopped, with spend per visit up 1.1 per cent year on year to £22.24.
Premium private label value sales grew by 5.6 per cent, and unit sales by 3.1 per cent, accounting for 28 per cent of all private label sales this December. This indicates that consumers “were still keen to treat and indulge where they could afford”, NIQ said.
In terms of category performance, impulse (soft drinks, snacks and confectionery) grew by 5.7 per cent, while fresh foods saw a 4.9 per cent rise. Frozen foods also saw an increase (+1.2 per cent), while beer, wine and spirits declined (-0.1 per cent).
Intense competition drove retailers to make significant price cuts to win out the category in the final week before Christmas.
Sales surge for Ocado and Lidl
Ocado (+12.8 per cent) retained its position as the fastest-growing retailer for the second consecutive Christmas due to the continued growth of online grocery spending. Meanwhile, Lidl (+9.4 per cent) led growth among store-based retailers.
Both Sainsbury’s (+5.7 per cent) and Waitrose (+5.5 per cent) had a successful Christmas period, aided by new shoppers and more visits.
Tesco (+3.7 per cent) gained market share, and M&S (+4 per cent) also experienced good growth, although this was against higher comparatives compared with last year.
Morrisons (+3.1%) had its best trading in six months, having seen sales fall in December last year. Sales at Asda (-6.5 per cent) dropped considerably during December.
