This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/51045276
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Tesco's Christmas sales fall in 'challenging' market | Tesco's Christmas sales fall in 'challenging' market |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Sales at the UK's biggest supermarket, Tesco, fell slightly in the months around the all-important Christmas period. | Sales at the UK's biggest supermarket, Tesco, fell slightly in the months around the all-important Christmas period. |
| Like-for-like sales in the UK fell by 0.2% in the 19 weeks to 4 January. | Like-for-like sales in the UK fell by 0.2% in the 19 weeks to 4 January. |
| It was the final Christmas under the leadership of Tesco's boss Dave Lewis, who described the UK market as "subdued". | It was the final Christmas under the leadership of Tesco's boss Dave Lewis, who described the UK market as "subdued". |
| But things were less gloomy at High Street rival Marks & Spencer, where sales grew 0.2%. | But things were less gloomy at High Street rival Marks & Spencer, where sales grew 0.2%. |
| M&S said its food departments had a "standout" run in the two weeks leading up to Christmas. | |
| In the 13 weeks before the final week of December, food sales increased 1.4%. | |
| Nevertheless, M&S boss Steve Rowe also described the market as "challenging". | |
| On that, he and Mr Lewis agree. Tesco said: "The UK environment has clearly been challenging." | |
| But the supermarket said it outperformed the market and had its "biggest ever day of UK food sales" in the run-up to Christmas. | |
| On Monday, market research firm Kantar said supermarket sales growth over Christmas was the slowest in five years. | |
| Richard Lim, the boss of analyst firm Retail Economics, said M&S could be showing signs of recovery after what was a tough year for the business, which dropped out of the FTSE 100 in September. | |
| "Food performed particularly well, benefiting from stronger underlying household finances, but consumers also responded positively to more competitive pricing," he said. | |
| "It appeared that shoppers were prepared to indulge that little bit more this Christmas on food if they spotted value for money." |