Tesco has recorded its “biggest ever Christmas”, with the UK’s largest supermarket chain landing its biggest share of the festive shopping trolley since 2016.
Sales at established UK stores rose 4% in the six weeks to 4 January, with fresh food performing particularly strongly and clothing and homeware sales also up.
Tesco now controls 28.5% of the grocery market and gained share from premium and discounter rivals over the 12 weeks to 29 December, according to the analysts Kantar.
Ken Murphy, the retailer’s chief executive, said the strong performance reflected investments made in prices and the quality of products, as well as hiring an extra 28,000 staff over the Christmas period to help in shops and online depots.
He said the cost of a traditional Christmas dinner had been cut by 12%, while sales of Tesco’s premium Finest range jumped 15.5% as the group added 300 festive products.
Murphy said: “We invested to bring the best value, quality and service to everyone, no matter how or where they shopped with us. As a result, we delivered our biggest ever Christmas, with continued market share growth and switching gains.”
Underlying sales for the group rose 3.8%, helped by a strong performance in Ireland and central Europe. However, the group recorded only 1.4% sales growth in its Booker wholesale arm, which was held back by the fall in tobacco sales and fast food.
Like Next and Marks & Spencer, Tesco experienced strong growth online, with sales up almost 11%.
Murphy said Tesco continued to meet expectations of an annual underlying profit of £2.9bn and did not give an indication of the impact of tax rises announced in the budget.
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Separately on Thursday, M&S reported sales in established food stores were up 8.9% in the 13 weeks to 28 December. Sales of clothing, home and beauty products grew by 1.9%.
