Tesco reports strong Christmas food sales
Tesco has recorded it highest market share in more than a decade during the lead-up to Christmas after strong festive food sales.
In the six weeks to 3 January, UK sales rose by 3.2% year-on-year as the supermarket outperformed the market on both a value and volume basis.
The retailer said it saw a standout performance in fresh foodas it invested in value and quality across ranges. Like-for-like sales in the quarter increased by 3.1%.
Meanwhile, online sales sales grew by 11.2%, including extended Christmas Eve deliveries. Sales via the Whoosh rapid delivery service sales climbed by 47%.
Ken Murphy, Tesco chief executive of Tesco, said: “I am delighted with the strong Christmas we delivered for our customers. Our investments in value, quality and service drove further gains in customer satisfaction and strong growth in fresh food, contributing to our highest UK market share in over a decade.
“In addition to further strengthening our price position, we launched 340 new and improved own-brand Christmas products including 180 in Finest, which once again delivered double-digit sales growth.
“We also recruited 28,500 additional colleagues for the festive period and offered an extra 100,000 online delivery slots in the week before Christmas, enabled by AI-powered scheduling tools developed by our technology and logistics teams. Online sales grew double-digit and Whoosh also performed strongly, with more than 250,000 new customers over the period.”
