Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS) emerged as the fastest-growing listed supermarket in the Christmas quarter, according to data published by NIQ.
Behind only Lidl, the UK retailer saw the value of its food sales jump by 12% year on year in the quarter to 30 December 2023.
M&S’s market share also saw a 0.1 percentage point rise to 3.8%.
Nearly 29% of households shopped at M&S in December, up from 27% in the same period the previous year, which is equal to around 500,000 new shoppers, the NIQ added.
M&S will provide its post-Christmas trading update on Thursday.
Lidl GB led the pack with a 15.3% increase in sales over the 12-week period and Aldi UK closely followed with an 11.4% rise, with the two discounters collectively achieving a market share of 20.1%.
NIQ noted that Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) and J Sainsbury PLC (LSE:SBRY), the top two in the market, also performed strongly with sales growth of 7.4% and 8.7%, respectively.
However, privately owned Asda and Wm Morrison Supermarkets showed slower growth at 3.2%.
Total supermarket sales in cash terms reached £4.8 billion (US$6.1 billion) during the week ending 23 December, marking the largest week on record and a 4.3% increase from Christmas 2022.
On a volume basis, sales rose by 1.2%.
Confectionery was a top-performing category in December, experiencing 17.3% value growth, while the value sales growth for beers, wines and spirits slowed to 1.6%.