More than half of all UK households shopped at a Tesco store during the four-week run up to Christmas, according to ACNielsen Homescan TradeTrak data which measures grocery and non-food spend.
In the four weeks to December 27, 53.3% of all households shopped at Tesco, spending an average of £137.99. That sum tops Asda’s £134.94 average spend despite its strong non-food and George offering.
Such spends were clearly instrumental in Tesco achieving like-for-like sales growth of 7.5% in the seven weeks to January 3 and for increasing its market share from 25.8% in the 12 weeks to December 28 2002 to 26.9% for the 12 weeks to December 27, 2003, according to Homescan TradeTrak. A bumper Tesco Christmas had been predicted by exclusive research for The Grocer from HI Europe in December (‘Tesco tills will be a’ jingling’, The Grocer, December 6, p32). It predicted Tesco would attract new shoppers over the Yuletide. In fact, almost a third of consumers who do not normally shop at Tesco said they would go out of their way to visit it over the Christmas period. Over the same period Asda achieved its best ever market share of 17.9%, up from 17.1%, and a shopping penetration of 38.5% - lower than Tesco’s figure but, significantly, higher than the 36.1% of households that shopped at Sainsbury.
This is in spite of the fact that Sainsbury has nearly twice the number of stores than Asda. Sainsbury, meanwhile, continued to lose market share - down to 16.1% from 17% last year.
ACNielsen retailer services manager Mike Watkins said consumer demand at out-of-town stores had been strong while sales of non-food, notably electricals, achieved double-digit growth for many of the multiples.
He added that the large supermarket chains would expect to gain further market share in 2004.
TNS Till Roll figures showed similar trends, with Tesco, Asda and Morrisons gaining share at the expense of Sainsbury and Safeway. TNS said total sales at the multiples were up 7% for the 12 weeks to January 4, which led analysts at Merrill Lynch to describe the festive period as “the food retailers Christmas”.
Total sales at Asda, which did not report its Christmas trading, were up 9% - lower than Tesco (11%) and Morrisons (14%).
Safeway, which did not release a Christmas statement, was the worst performer with sales down 4% over the same period. Somerfield and Kwik Save, which report next week, were up 5% and 2% respectively.
>>p19 TradeTrak p35 Christmas trading
Sean McAllister
In the four weeks to December 27, 53.3% of all households shopped at Tesco, spending an average of £137.99. That sum tops Asda’s £134.94 average spend despite its strong non-food and George offering.
Such spends were clearly instrumental in Tesco achieving like-for-like sales growth of 7.5% in the seven weeks to January 3 and for increasing its market share from 25.8% in the 12 weeks to December 28 2002 to 26.9% for the 12 weeks to December 27, 2003, according to Homescan TradeTrak. A bumper Tesco Christmas had been predicted by exclusive research for The Grocer from HI Europe in December (‘Tesco tills will be a’ jingling’, The Grocer, December 6, p32). It predicted Tesco would attract new shoppers over the Yuletide. In fact, almost a third of consumers who do not normally shop at Tesco said they would go out of their way to visit it over the Christmas period. Over the same period Asda achieved its best ever market share of 17.9%, up from 17.1%, and a shopping penetration of 38.5% - lower than Tesco’s figure but, significantly, higher than the 36.1% of households that shopped at Sainsbury.
This is in spite of the fact that Sainsbury has nearly twice the number of stores than Asda. Sainsbury, meanwhile, continued to lose market share - down to 16.1% from 17% last year.
ACNielsen retailer services manager Mike Watkins said consumer demand at out-of-town stores had been strong while sales of non-food, notably electricals, achieved double-digit growth for many of the multiples.
He added that the large supermarket chains would expect to gain further market share in 2004.
TNS Till Roll figures showed similar trends, with Tesco, Asda and Morrisons gaining share at the expense of Sainsbury and Safeway. TNS said total sales at the multiples were up 7% for the 12 weeks to January 4, which led analysts at Merrill Lynch to describe the festive period as “the food retailers Christmas”.
Total sales at Asda, which did not report its Christmas trading, were up 9% - lower than Tesco (11%) and Morrisons (14%).
Safeway, which did not release a Christmas statement, was the worst performer with sales down 4% over the same period. Somerfield and Kwik Save, which report next week, were up 5% and 2% respectively.
>>p19 TradeTrak p35 Christmas trading
Sean McAllister
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