The market is looking increasingly difficult for the supermarket sector in the run-up to Christmas, with discount stores like Lidl and Aldi proving difficult competition for the Big Four.

According to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel, both Tesco and Asda have seen a sales fall of 3.4 percent in the 12 weeks to December. UK Investor Magazine recently carried out our own survey on readers Christmas shopping habits, which also spelled bad news for Tesco – readers who bought the majority of their big Christmas shop there this year decreased from 30.95 percent in 2014 to 27.7 percent this year. Asda had similar results, with readers doing their Christmas shop there falling from 6.35 percent in 2014 to 3.97 percent in 2015.

However, according to Kantar Worldpanel it’s not all bad news for the Big Four; despite falling in-store sales, both Tesco and Asda both Tesco and Asda have managed to increase sales through their websites.

The supermarket sector is going through a tough time at the moment, with the traditional large British supermarkets – Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons – suffering falling results as consumers seek out cheaper prices elsewhere.

18/12/2015