Tesco experiences ‘strongest Christmas for three years’

Supermarket giant, Tesco, has announced a sharp rise in Christmas sales and follows strong sales from other major retailers, boosting hopes that the economy has finally emerged from recession.

Tesco, which is the UK’s largest retailer, said it experienced its best Christmas in the UK for three years with total UK sales in the six weeks to January 9 growing by 8.3%.

Like-for-like sales excluding petrol and including VAT increased by 5.1% in the period.

The chain also said customers had redeemed an extra £34 million of Clubcard vouchers.

The performance was at the top end of market forecasts and follows on from rival supermarket, Sainsbury’s, who last week exceeded expectations by announcing a 4.2% rise like-for-like sales.

In related news today, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) announced that the High Street experienced the strongest December for eight years.

According to the BRC, like-for-like sales grew 4.2% by value during December as last-minute Christmas shoppers boosted sales.

Meanwhile, other major retailers to announce bumper Christmas trading this week include Peacocks, Poundland, Co-op, M&S, Next, John Lewis and House of Fraser.

Meanwhile, returning to Tesco, a report by accountancy firm Deloitte has suggested that Tesco has slipped down to fourth place in the rankings as one of the world’s largest retailers.

German retailer Metro knocked Tesco off the third spot, while France’s Carrefour remained in second place and US giant, Wal-Mart, retained the top spot as the world‘s largest retailer.

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