Grocery spending hit record high at Christmas as Brits favour food over gifts
Grocery spending hit a record high this Christmas as Brits dined out on premium goods and fizz, in a marked contrast to the anaemic growth in retail spending.
Overall take-home sales at the grocers rose by 2.1 per cent over the four weeks to 29 December compared with last year.
Brits splashed out on premium lines of branded goods for festive favourites like sausage rolls and cake, as well as sparkling wine and champagne.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “It was a solid Christmas at the supermarkets with sales surpassing £13bn during the four weeks of December for the first time ever, showing people were clearly in the mood to celebrate and spend.”
Data from NIQ told a similar story of the “biggest ever Christmas“. The analytics firm put sales growth at three per cent and total spend at £14.6bn during December.
This is a significant contrast to retail spending in 2024’s golden quarter, which grew only minimally during the Christmas period – suggesting Brits prioritised spending on food over goods.
Tesco, Aldi and Lidl come out on top
Tesco retained its crown as the most popular UK supermarket, taking over a quarter of all sales during the Golden Quarter. Sales totalled £10.5bn in the last twelve weeks of the year.
Discount retailers Lidl and Aldi achieved their highest ever Christmas shares at 7.3 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, with Lidl securing the fastest footfall growth of any retailer as spending through its tills increased by 6.6 per cent.
The search for cheaper goods was a key trend this year: NIQ found that 27 per cent of sales this Christmas were for promotional items, the highest in three years.
Due to an increase in online spending, Ocado also boosted its sales by 9.6 per cent, taking its market share to 1.8 per cent.
Online spending for the month reached a record £1.6bn, with 5.6m households opting for delivery or click and collect services at least once during the Golden Quarter.