Britain’s biggest supermarkets will reveal a slump in Christmas sales this week, revealing the pressure placed on the industry by the increase of discount shops Aldi and Lidl.
Supermarket giants Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s will be reporting on their performance during the Christmas period. Sainsbury’s shareholders are particularly interested in the supermarkets trading updates, as they consider whether to support plans to bid for Home Retail Group, owner of Argos.
The supermarket has outperformed competing supermarkets in recent years, and analysts have warned that the plans to launch a takeover bid worth more than £1bn could distract Sainsbury.
Sainsbury’s is expected to reveal a fall of 0.07% in sales at established stores in the three months to the end of December.
Morrisons will be the first supermarket to reveal the number of sales on Tuesday (January 12th) with 2% slide in the nine weeks to the 3rd January 2016.
Tesco is expected to reveal the largest fall in the number of sales with numbers falling by 2-3% in the three months to the end of November, with slight improvements over Christmas.
Another member of the “big-four” Asda, has added more pressure to rival companies by committing another £500m to cutting prices. Asda have been estimated by analysts to have experienced a 3 -5% drop in sales during Christmas.
Waitrose have already revealed they have slumped by 1.4% in Christmas sales in the six weeks to 2 January, revealing that record sales three days before Christmas were offset by a slow run-up to New Year Eve.
Co-op is understood to have experienced a sales growth over the Christmas season, with sales of mince pies soaring by 37% whilst Prosecco sales increased by 1.4%.
Retail chief executive at Co-operative group Steve Murrell said: “We witnessed a strong trading performance across the key festive trading weeks. And it’s clear from our sales data that convenience shopping was in the ascendency this Christmas, with more customers opting to shop little and often.”
Discounter shops Aldi and Lidl are estimated to have been the big winners in the Christmas sales with a double figured sales growth over Christmas.