Tesco Sees Sales Rise 1.3% Over Christmas Period

14 Jan 2016 –- For the six-week Christmas period, like-for-like sales in the UK grew by 1.3% – a significant improvement on past results.  Volumes increased by 3.5% and transactions increased by 3.4% as more customers chose to do more of their Christmas shopping at Tesco.  In addition to the continuous improvements Tesco have been making over the course of the last year, customers responded well to a stronger seasonal offering.

Chief Executive, Dave Lewis, spoke about the performance: “Our Christmas performance was strong, benefiting from lower prices on an outstanding range of products.  Our customer service improved materially and our colleagues went the extra mile. International sales have also continued to strengthen, driven once again by improvements across the offer.  We continued our strong positive sales momentum in both Europe and Asia, with our Thai business reaching its highest ever market share.”

In the peak festive week, Tesco introduced 4,000 additional ‘Here to Help’ colleagues to stores to give customers an extra helping hand.  Through the ongoing investment in lower, more stable prices, Tesco were around 5% cheaper than the previous year on the lines that mattered most to their customers at Christmas.

However, Tesco did report a 1.5% fall in sales for the 13 weeks ending 28 November after scrapping its "£5 off £40" promotion held in 2014.