UK grocery sales spiked as trips to supermarkets hit the highest level since the onset of Covid, numbers from Kantar showed on Tuesday.

‘Christmas came early’ for grocers, Kantar explained, with holiday staples such as mince pies and Christmas cake flying off the shelves. There was also a Halloween ‘galvanising sales’.

UK grocery sales in the 12 weeks to November 3 rose 2.3% to £34.01 billion from £33.25 billion a year prior. In the final four weeks of the survey, sales were up 2.0% to £11.6 billion, the best month so far this year.

Trips to supermarkets during the four weeks hit a four-year high of 480 million, ‘the highest since pre-pandemic’, Kantar said.

‘Halloween played a part in galvanising sales and there are signs that some consumers are looking further ahead in the calendar, starting their Christmas shopping early,’ Kantar analyst Fraser McKevitt said.

‘Many of us got into the spooky spirit last month, as 3.2 million households bought at least one pumpkin. Confectionery spending also got a boost to £525 million in October as sales of chocolates and sweets both went up, climbing by 13% and 7% each.’

McKevitt continued: ‘What’s interesting this month is the number of households who are already stocking up the cupboards for the big day in December. Some people think Christmas ads hit our screens too soon but it’s clearly important for retailers to set out their stalls early. 648,000 shoppers have already bought a Christmas cake, while 14.4% of households picked up mince pies in October. With Black Friday on the horizon, the grocers will be hoping to capture a slice of the action there too.’

Grocery price inflation picked up slightly to 2.3% during the for the final four weeks of the period, from 2.0% for the four weeks to September 29. The rate of inflation has sat below 3.0% since the ‘early summer’.

Kantar said Tesco PLC sales rose 4.6% on-year to £9.49 billion during the 12 weeks, with its market share climbing to 27.9% from 27.3%, cementing its status as top dog.

The fastest-growing retailer, however, was Ocado. Ocado sales rose 9.5% to £611 million and its market share improved to 1.8% from 1.7%. Online-only Ocado is a joint-venture between Ocado PLC and Marks & Spencer Group PLC.

Kantar added: ‘With sales up by 7.4%, Lidl was the fastest growing retailer with a bricks and mortar presence for the 15th period in a row, continuing this run into a second year. It secured 326,000 additional shoppers this period, more than any other retailer, and saw particularly strong fresh produce sales growth at 22%.’

Lidl’s market share improved to 7.7% from 7.4%. Fellow discounter Aldi saw its market share remain unmoved at 10.4%, however. Aldi remains the fourth most popular UK grocer by market share. It dislodged Wm Morrison Supermarkets Ltd from that position back in 2022.

J Sainsbury PLC sales rose 4.4% during the 12 weeks, with its market share improving to 15.5% from 15.2%.

Tesco shares were down 1.0% early Tuesday in London, while Sainsbury’s was 0.5% lower. Ocado was down 3.2% and M&S fell 2.1%.

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