- Both firms grew their market share
- Sainsbury’s update due on Thursday
- Tesco update due a day later
It may not look like it from their share prices today, but if the latest supermarket sales figures are anything to go by both Sainsbury’s (SBRY) and Tesco (TSCO) had a bumper Christmas.
Sainsbury’s, which is due to post a trading statement this Friday (10 January), saw its shares dip 4p or 1.5% to 273p, while shares in Tesco, which reports this Thursday, edged 4.7p or 1.3% lower at 368p.
LET THE TILLS RING
According to the latest sales figures from retail consultancy Kantar for the fourth quarter and December itself, household spending on take-home groceries hit a record high last month at £460 while overall sales were up a shade over 2% on December 2023.
‘It was a solid Christmas at the supermarkets with sales surpassing £13 billion during the four weeks of December for the first time ever, showing people were clearly in the mood to celebrate and spend,’ said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
Moreover, in contrast to reports of disappointing footfall across the rest of the high street, it was a different story in the world of grocery, says McKevitt.
The average household made around 17 separate shopping trips in December, delivering the busiest month for the retailers since the pre-lockdown rush in March 2020, while as expected Monday 23 December was the most popular shopping day of the year with sales 30% higher than any other day.
GLAD TIDINGS FOR TESCO
Of all the supermarkets, Tesco looks to have been the runaway winner with its market share rising to 28.5% for the 12 weeks to 29 December against just 27.7% a year earlier, news which should put chief executive Ken Murphy in a good mood come Thursday.
Sainsbury’s also increased its market share, from 15.8% to 16%, while Asda – which was taken private last year – continues to cede ground hand over fist losing a full percentage point to 12.5% from 13.5% in December 2023.
Interestingly, it isn’t the discounters Aldi and Lidl who are making the most of Asda’s woes – despite claims they both had a record Christmas, which they may well have done, their combined share of the UK grocery market in the final quarter of 2024 was 17.3%, just 0.3% higher than the previous year and significantly lower than their pre-Christmas 18% share.
