Kantar Worldpanel: Festive cheer as UK Grocers enjoy 2023 Christmas sales boost

Britons spent a record £13.7 billion at UK grocers before Christmas from 1-24 December 2023, according to Kantar Worldpanel, with the average household spending an all-time high of £477 across the month, an increase of £28 on 2022. 

Total take-home UK grocery sales grew in value by 7% for the pre-Christmas month of December 2023, while the number of items bought rose by 2%. Britons made 488 million trips pre-Christmas to UK supermarkets,12 million more than last year, and the largest number since the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Fraser McKevitt, Head of Retail and Consumer Insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “We expected a Christmas whopper. Friday 22 December turned out to be the most popular shopping day, when just over 25 million trips were made. Consumers spent £803 million in physical stores – that’s 85% more than the average Friday in 2023.” 

Online’s share of the market held steady at 11.6%, as nearly one in five households got a delivery in for the big day. 

Food inflation falls but COL pressures still drive promotional frenzy   
Grocery price inflation in the UK fell to 6.7% in December, its lowest level since April 2022, but many consumers are still feeling the pinch due to the cost of living (COL) crisis. The rate of inflation is coming down fast, says Kantar Worldpanel, but UK consumers are still facing pretty hefty energy prices and other pressures on their budgets. 

Retailers were clearly working hard during the festive period to offer value, with promotions central to their strategy.  Nearly one third of all spend in the four weeks to Christmas Eve was made on items with some kind of offer, the highest level since December 2020 and £823 million more than last year.

Brand winners in competitive UK grocery sector
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose supermarkets accounted for a combined UK grocery market share of 70% during the wider 12-week period from November to 24 December 2023, assessed by Kantar WorldPanel. 

These traditional retailers always do well in the run up to Christmas. Sainsbury’s reached its highest market share since December 2020 at 15.8%, pushing up its sales by 9.3%.  Tesco gained 0.1 percentage points of share to now hold 27.6% of the market and grew sales by 7.5%.

Lidl and Aldi continue to be the fastest growing grocers year-on-year and the discounters hit their highest ever market shares for the Christmas period. 

Lidl increased sales by 13.8%, while Aldi saw growth of 9.9%.  Lidl’s market share rose by 0.5 percentage points to 7.7% and Aldi’s grew 0.2 percentage points, meaning its market share now stands at 9.3%.  

Co-op’s market share now stands at 5.4%, marking a 3.8% increase since last year.  Waitrose, meanwhile, holds 4.6% of the market, having seen a 1% rise in the number of shoppers over the 12-week period. 

Frozen specialist Iceland’s sales increased by 2.9%, with its market share now at 2.4%, and Asda accelerated sales growth to 3.4% to take 13.6% of the market. 

Spending at Morrisons increased by 3.2%, with share now standing at 8.8%.  Spending at online-only retailer Ocado grew by 5.5%, though its share of the market held steady at 1.7%.