Tesco reports 'strong' trading over festive season

The retailer said group like-for-like sales increased by 6.1% over the 19 weeks to January 9 as it was particularly buoyed by 8.1% growth over the final six weeks of the period.

Tesco said online sales grew by more than 80% over the 19-week period as new shoppers continued to flock to its digital platforms amid lockdown restrictions.

Ken Murphy, chief executive of Tesco, said: “Our focus on looking after our customers, including delivering record availability, robust safety measures and great value, has enabled us to maintain strong momentum through the Christmas period, outperforming the market every week.

“We delivered a record Christmas across all of our formats and channels.

“In response to unprecedented demand for online groceries, colleagues delivered over seven million orders containing more than 400 million individual items over the Christmas period.

“Our colleagues went above and beyond, rising to every challenge in the most exceptional of circumstances and I thank every one of them for this.

“We’re in great shape to keep delivering in 2021 and beyond.”