J Sainsbury PLC (LON:SBRY) was the only one of Britain’s big four supermarkets to post a sales decline over the key Christmas trading period, according to industry data.
Kantar Woldpanel said sales at Sainsbury’s, which has agreed to buy Asda, fell 0.4% in the 12 weeks to December 30.
READ: CMA rejects request from Sainsbury's and Asda for more time in merger probe
Asda, on the other hand, was the best performer of the UK’s biggest supermarkets with sales rising 0.7% over the period.
The UK's Competition Market Authority is expected to deliver its verdict on the proposed Sainsbury’s-Asda merger in February.
Market leader Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) saw sales increase 0.6% over the period while sales at WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW) grew 0.1%.
All big four supermarkets continued to lose market share to discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Sainsbury’s market share dropped by 0.3 percentage points (ppts) to 16.2% compared to a year ago, Morrisons’ dropped 0.2 ppts to 10.6%, Tesco’s fell 0.3 ppts to 27.8% and Asda’s dipped 0.1 ppts to 15.2%.
Sales growth at Aldi and Lidl was 10.4% and 9.4% respectively, taking their combined market share to 12.8%.
Consumers still prefer to shop in-store at supermarkets
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said unlike the high street, the grocery market has been less affected by the move to online.
“Although e-commerce is growing – up 3.9% compared to this time last year – online grocery shopping is failing to attract new customers,” he said.
“Instead, growth stemmed from existing customers spending an additional £9.07 over the month of December. Though not included in our till roll data set, Amazon remains one to watch as its fast-moving consumer goods sales jumped by 16% over the 12-week period.”
Nielsen data also shows Sainsbury's the worst performer of Big Four
Rival market researcher Nielsen also revealed Asda was the top performer in industry sales figures for the 12 weeks to December 29. Asda sales rose 0.8 in the period.
Tesco sales increased 0.4% but sales at Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s fell 0.1% and 0.6%, respectively.
Aldi and Lidl sales jumped 11.7% and 13.6% respectively, taking their combined market share to 13.9%.
Nielsen said overall retail sales growth slowed to 1.8% in the four weeks to December 29.
“Consumer grocery shopping habits are changing, with shoppers now opting to spend less on doing one big shop; instead preferring more frequent, smaller trips to the supermarket, spreading the cost across multiple retailers to increase choice,” said Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer insight.
Morrisons released its own sales figures for the Christmas period on Tuesday.
READ: WM Morrison falls as it warns of ‘change in consumer behaviour’ despite sales rise over Christmas
Retail like-for-like sales at Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket climbed 0.6% in the nine weeks ended January 6. The City had been looking for growth of 0.5%.