Christmas grocery spending is expected to break records – despite the fact that market is now growing at it’s slowest rate since March 2017, two per cent, according to Kantar Worldpanel.
Kantar highlighted the fact that inflation has fallen to 1.6 per cent – less than half the rate of inflation in December 2017 when it reached 3.6 per cent – and this had led to a slowdown in the whole market.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight, said: “The last time Christmas Day fell on a Tuesday was in 2012 and the Saturday before was the busiest shopping day of the year. We expect the same trend to hold true this year, with Saturday 22 December pulling in the last-minute Christmas crowds.”
For the twelve weeks to 2nd December, total consumer spend was £27.5 billion – up two per cent on the year before.
Aldi was the fastest growing grocer at 12.2 per cent, followed by Lidl at 11.2 per cent growth. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose all showed small falls.
