Tesco reports bumper sales over festive period

The UK’s number one retailer Tesco has revealed stronger than expected grocery sales over the lastest festive period.

The supermarket reported a 6.8 per cent surge in its like-for-like Christmas sales (six weeks to 6 January 2024), rising to 7.5 per cent for the 19-week period to 6 January 2024.

Tesco said performance highlights for the period included strong market share performance – up to 27.9 per cent in the four weeks to Christmas, and consistent volume growth across the period – particularly in fresh food.

The retailer said it cut prices on nearly 2,700 products over the festive period, and announced a further 150 price cuts this week (11 January).

Commenting on the latest financial figures, Ken Murphy, Tesco chief executive, said: “The Tesco team has worked harder than ever to help customers celebrate this Christmas, with our strongest ever range of great value, fantastic quality food.

“As part of our focus on value, we offered a full Christmas dinner for just £2.09 per person, helping to drive record sales in the weeks leading up to Christmas and further market share gains. We put a strong focus on quality and innovation too, with over 550 new and improved festive products. Over 18 million customers took the opportunity to treat themselves by shopping from our Finest range, which saw sales growth of nearly 17 per cent.

“Our powerful combination of great value, quality, availability and service means that we head into the New Year in great shape to keep delivering for customers.”