James Davey

LONDON (Reuters), Tesco, Britain’s most popular supermarket, beat its main rivals during the Christmas season. The company achieved its largest grocery market share since January 2018 according to industry data.

Kantar, a market researcher, stated that Tesco’s grocery sales fell 0.9% in the twelve weeks ending Dec. 26, compared to the same time in 2020 when many areas of Britain were subjected to COVID-19 restrictions which boosted food sales. Tesco’s two-year sales rose 10.1%.

The UK’s grocery market share grew by 0.6 percent to 27.9%

The 12-week-long period saw sales declines at Asda, Morrisons and Rivals Sainsbury’s compared to 2020.

Tesco’s dominance is due to its unmatched store- and online operation, its success with its loyalty program “Clubcard Prices”, and its resilience to disruptions in the supply chain.

Tesco increased its full-year earnings forecast in October. Analysts believe that it will raise its outlook when it updates trading on January 13. Over the past year, its shares increased 24%.

Kantar reported that total UK grocery sales reached 31.7 billion pounds (or $42.9 billion), in the twelve week period. This is a decrease of 3% over 2020, but an increase of 8% over 2019.

Fraser McKevitt from Kantar, Kantar’s chief of retail and consumer insights, stated that “the data suggests there weren’t (COVID-19), formal rules in the UK this year but many people celebrated at their home again thanks to Omicron.”

His observation was that Premium Own-Label Sales broke all records in this Christmas, with 627 Million Pounds spent by shoppers on their own premium lines of supermarkets over the four week period to Dec. 26. This is 6.8% more than 2020.

Kantar reported that grocery inflation rose to 3.5% in December. This is the highest since spring 2020. It has added nearly 15 pounds per month to grocery shoppers’ monthly grocery costs.

According to the report, prices are rising fast in certain markets like fresh beef and savoury snacks, and falling rapidly in fresh bacon, shower and bath products, and spirits.

Bank of England raised its inflation forecast for April to reflect the prediction that consumer price inflation would reach a peak of around 6.6%. This is a 30 year high.

Sales growth and market share (%)

12-weeks to 12 weeks to % Change in

Dec. 26 2021 Dec. 27 2020 sales (yr on

yr)

Tesco 27.9 27.3 -0.9

Sainsbury’s 15.7 15.9 -4.4

Asda 14.2 / 14.3 -3.9

Morrisons 10.4 -6.5

Aldi 7.7 7.4 0

Co-operative 5.8 6.0 -6.6

Lidl 6.3 6 -1 -0.3

Waitrose 5.1 5.0 -1.4

Iceland: 2.4 2.5 -6.

Ocado (LON:) 1.7 1.6 2.5

Kantar

($1 = 0.7388 pounds)