British shoppers spend record £11.7bn on groceries in December

December was the busiest month ever for British supermarkets as tightening restrictions and the closure of restaurants, bars and cafes meant shoppers spent £11.7bn on groceries, according to market research firm Kantar.

In the 12 weeks to 27 December 2020, grocery sales rose 11.4%, Kantar said.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: "December is always an incredibly busy time for supermarkets, but take-home grocery shopping is usually supplemented by celebrations in restaurants, pubs and bars - with £4 billion spent on food and drink, excluding alcohol, out of the home during the normal festive month.

"This year, almost all those meals were eaten at home and retailers stepped up monumentally to meet the surge in demand."

Digital orders accounted for 12.6% of grocery spend in December, compared with 7.4% last year, and online supermarket Ocado finished the year as it started, as the UK’s fastest growing retailer.

Morrisons saw the biggest increase of the big four supermarkets over the 12-week period, with sales up 13.1%, while Tesco sales rose 11.1%. Sainsbury’s saw a 10.7% jump, while sales at Walmart-owned Asda pushed up 7.8%.