Six out of every 10 people visited a Tesco store in the four weeks to Christmas, spending an average of £148.22 each.
The UK’s top food retailer took almost 30% of trade in these key weeks, according to The Grocer’s exclusive TradeTrak research from ACNielsen, up 2.4% on the period last year.
Tesco’s strong non-food ranges have fuelled growth but it has not been at the expense of its core food offer. Food-only expenditure was up 2.2% in the quarter to December 25 compared with the 12 weeks ending December 27, 2003.
The research reveals that Tesco saw overall sales rise a staggering 17% year-on-year for these key weeks. Asda increased sales by 10% year-on- year.
Both retailers outperformed the grocery channel as a whole, which grew 9.2% versus the same four-week period last year.
Tesco will be the last of the major supermarket chains to unveil its Christmas trading figures when it reports next Tuesday (January 18). It is expected to emerge victorious in the battle of the grocery chains. “It seems Tesco can do no wrong and these Christmas results are a fantastic finish to a truly outstanding year,” said ACNielsen manager of retail services, Mike Watkins.
Jonathan Pitkänen, retail analyst at Fitch Ratings, said its strong clothing and phone offer was pulling in customers to the detriment of traditional high street retailers. “With all the woes high street retailers are suffering, people have been driven to Tesco and increasingly they are thinking of it for all their needs.”
While Tesco attracted the most store visits per customer in December, at an average of four visits per customer, there is the opportunity to convince these customers to spend more.
Both Asda and Sainsbury pipped Tesco to the highest basket spends at Christmas.
Asda customers spent £41.09 while Sainsbury had an average basket spend of £36.29, just 1p more than Tesco. Waitrose’s average basket was £33.52.
The Morrisons/Safeway fascia average basket was £27.35.
Waitrose also had a higher spend per consumer for the four weeks to December 25 at £114, while Morrisons/Safeway, combined was £92.
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