Record Christmas for British supermarkets

British supermarkets enjoyed a record run-up to Christmas with takings of more than £16.9bn (€24.1) in the final three months of 2004, new figures showed today.

The haul was higher than the £16.2bn (€23.1bn) spent by shoppers in supermarkets during the same period a year earlier, according to analysts TNS Superpanel.

The biggest winner over the festive season was Tesco, which tightened its grip on the food retail sector with a 29% market share – up from 26.6% a year ago.

Asda also achieved a record 17.1% share in the 12 weeks to January 2 after benefiting from seasonal sales of non-food products.

Further evidence that Sainsbury’s was starting to compete more effectively against its rivals emerged in the TNS figures.

It has slowed its rate of decline and now accounts for 15.9% of all supermarket sales, although this is lower than the 16.3% share of the market it held 12 months ago.

Edward Garner, communications director of the TNS Superpanel, said: “Christmas is traditionally a strong time for Sainsbury’s and the share duly rose for the fourth period in succession in the run-up to Christmas.”

However, there was further gloom for Morrisons since its merger with Safeway last year. Its share of the market has shrunk to 12.4% over the past 12 months from 14.5%.