Supermarkets pin hopes on late Christmas rush

Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons on Tuesday pinned their hopes on last-minute Christmas shopping to boost their coffers as it emerged fewer shoppers had visited their stores in recent weeks.

Three of the four biggest grocers lost market share to rivals as they entered the crucial trading period, according to Kantar Worldpanel’s latest industry figures.

Tesco dipped to 27.6% in the 12 weeks to December 2 from 28.2% the year before. Sainsbury’s fell from 16.4% to 16%, while Morrisons edged down from 10.6% to 10.5%. Asda’s market share was flat. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose saw sales drop 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.7% respectively.

Co-op and German discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to grab market share. Giles Hurley, boss of Aldi UK, said: “We enter the Christmas trading period with great momentum as the UK’s fastest-growing supermarket.”

Researchers at Nielsen on Tuesday added that although it has been a slow start to Christmas trading, there will be a bumper Christmas Eve. Shoppers are expected to spend £7 billion in the last two weeks of December.

Kantar said it also expects festive spending “to break records” thanks to an extra day of having shops open as Christmas falls on a Tuesday.

More than one in eight households have already brought a Christmas pudding, while Brussel sprout sales have already hit £18 million.