Sainsbury’s scooped up even more market share as sales soared, the latest Kantar figures show.
The supermarket’s revenues surged 8.1% in the 12 weeks to 21 January, accounting for 15.7% of the total market, up 0.3% on last year.
It comes off the back of a strong Christmas for Sainsbury’s, which posted a 9.3% jump in grocery sales for the 16 weeks to 6 January.
The supermarket’s CEO Simon Roberts said: “More customers are choosing to shop at Sainsbury’s, recognising our determined focus on value, product innovation and service.”
Sainsbury’s was the fastest growing traditional supermarket over the period and was only eclipsed by Lidl, which was the the only retailer to see double digit growth with spending up almost 12%, according to Kantar.
Meanwhile, grocery price inflation eased at a slower rate this month, as the proportion of promotional products bought fell compared to December.
Price inflation fell to 6.8% in January, down from 6.9% last month, and 9.1% in November.
The market research company also found grocery sales were up 2.9% over the four weeks.
Kantar head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said “all eyes are back on inflation” after the Consumer Prices Index’s (CPI) unexpected rise earlier this month.
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He said: “There’s been a lot of speculation about the impact the Red Sea shipping crisis might have on the cost of goods, but the story in the grocery aisles this January is more about the battle between the supermarkets to offer best value, rather than geopolitics.
“Retailers have taken their foot off the promotions gas slightly as we’ve come into the new year, and that’s meant inflation hasn’t fallen as quickly.”
Kantar figures show that items bought on offer accounted for 27% of all grocery spending in January versus 32% last month.
McKevitt said: “Christmas is always a bumper period for deals and the grocers pulled the price lever especially hard in December, as they sought to get shoppers through their doors.”
Additionally, Kantar found 86m more lunchboxes were taken to work last year, as workers kept an eye on their finances.
Plant-based and no/low alcohol sales saw a boost, although McKevitt noted shoppers were moving to healthy habits year-round, rather than just in January.
He added that 9% of annual own label plant-based sales were made in January, down from 11% in 2020.
The update comes after Kantar revealed the grocery sector saw its busiest Christmas since 2019 as sales surpassed the £13bn mark in December for the first time.
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