With the crucial Christmas shopping period almost upon us, Britain's biggest supermarket group Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) looks to be set for the most festive cheer after data showed it has enjoyed a third consecutive month of market share growth.
Till-roll data analysis by research firm Kantar Worldpanel showed Tesco's sales rose 1.6% year-on-year in the 12 weeks to December 4, taking its UK market share up to 28.3%, up from 28.0% a year earlier.
Conversely the other three major supermarket players – J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY), Asda – owned by US firm Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) - and William Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW) – all saw their sales and market shares fall.
Sainsbury’s sales in the same period were down 0.6% year-on-year; Asda’s fell 4.7%; and Morrison’s shed 1.4% - although its decline can be partly explained by store closures.
The march of the German discounting chains continues to put the most pressure on the established players, with Aldi and Lidl seeing sales growth of 10.0% and 5.7% respectively in the latest period.
Waitrose wanted
Other retailers growing sales over the past 12 weeks included the mutually-owned Co-operative Group, which saw an increase of 2.0%, and John Lewis Partnership-owned Waitrose, up 1.1% year on year.
Today also saw John Lewis release its latest weekly sales figures up to December 10, which saw Waitrose post strong sales growth across a number of categories despite divisional sales - excluding fuel - falling 0.2% compared to last year, distorted by the same week in 2015 being closer to Christmas.
Waitrose said its seasonal meat orders were up by 107%, including turkey orders, which were up nearly 10%, meanwhile Christmas tree sales grew by 9% on last year.
John Lewis department stores saw their sales fall 2.1% for the same week, compared with last year, which the group said reflected the different shape of trade for this Christmas period, marked by the peaks of Black Friday and the final week of December.
Ed Connolly, Fashion Buying Director at John Lewis, said: “Christmas Day falling on a Sunday this year means that customers have a full extra day shopping and are likely to leave their purchases until the last minute, as we've seen in previous years.”
Tesco keeps battling
Under chief executive Dave Lewis, Tesco has been battling back by lowering prices, improving product availability and bolstering customer service.
Finally, two years after an accounting scandal plunged Tesco into the worst crisis in its 97-year history, the retailer is once again pulling away from its main rivals.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: "Tesco's volume sales are growing faster than its value sales, particularly in the meat and fresh produce categories.”
Premium labels strong
The industry data also revealed a particularly strong performance for premium own label ranges in the run up to the festive period.
Kantar said shoppers are spending 13% more on those lines than they did last year against a backdrop of continued slow growth for supermarkets overall, where year-on-year sales increased by just 0.7%.
McKevitt said: “Top-tier private label finds its way into 12% of shopping trips, with 88% of consumers now buying from these lines. In the past 12 weeks, 6.3% of own label purchases were from premium lines such as Tesco Finest and Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference, well ahead of the 5.7% recorded last year.”
He added: ”Over Christmas it’s likely that premium lines will record their highest ever sales figures as even more shoppers trade up to treat their loved ones.”
Meanwhile, despite widespread anticipation of higher prices shoppers are yet to feel the pinch of rising inflation, with a typical basket of everyday groceries 0.1% cheaper than this time last year.
-- Adds Waitrose, John Lewis weekly sales --