December is a record breaker for grocers too!

BRITISH supermarkets enjoyed their busiest month on record in December as shoppers splashed out nearly £12bn on champagne, salmon and other festive treats.

The closure of many pubs and restaurants helped to smash the previous record for monthly spending – of £11bn in November – said retail researcher Kantar.

Yesterday, Morrisons, the first Big Four grocer to provide an update, said there was a 9.3pc rise in sales over the three weeks to January 3.

Best-sellers included Christmas pudding and mince pies. Champagne sales popped 64pc higher, while salmon sales leapt 40pc.

Chief executive David Potts said: ‘I’m very pleased with the way the Morrisons team has helped our customers enjoy their Christmas in the best way they could.’

Kantar said overall spending on whole turkeys was 5pc lower and sales of pork joints up 19pc instead. Sales of sprouts rose 11pc. Fraser McKevitt, Kantar head of retail research, said: ‘It seems many families decided to pare things back slightly.’

Morrisons expects a full-year profit of £420m to £440m, before it returns £230m of pandemic business rates relief. It expects its pandemic costs to be £280m for the year and will press ahead with a £96.4m dividend, worth 4p per share, on January 25.

Kantar said Morrisons was the fastest-growing Big Four supermarket in the run-up to December, with spending up an estimated 13.7pc to about £3.2bn in the 12 weeks to November 29.

Its market share rose from 10.1pc in 2019 to 10.3pc in 2020.

Tesco’s share shrank from 27.3pc to 27pc, Asda fell from 14.6pc to 14.1pc while Sainsbury’s held firm at 15.7pc.