Morrisons reports sales jump for Christmas and New Year’s period

Same store sales, excluding fuel, rose 2.8 per cent in the 10 weeks to 7 January. Including fuel, sales were up 3 per cent

Online sales rose by 10 per cent as the retailer expanded the number of stores where customers could pick up goods ordered on the internet

Morrisons has reported a jump in sales for the crucial Christmas and New Year period, helped by a surge in online activity and a cap on prices, despite the rising cost of commodities.

The supermarket on Tuesday said that same-store sales, excluding fuel, rose 2.8 per cent in the 10 weeks to 7 January. Including fuel, sales were up 3 per cent.

“More and more customers found more things they wanted to buy at competitive prices at Morrisons this Christmas,” said chief executive David Potts.

“The hard work and friendliness of our colleagues continues to be key in delivering our strengthening performance,” he added.

Morrisons said that automated ordering was live across all stores during the period, which helped improve availability and stock levels. It said that despite commodity prices rising, the cost of a basket of typical Christmas items was unchanged from the year before.

Online sales rose by 10 per cent as the retailer expanded the number of stores where customers could pick up goods ordered online. It also said that wholesale growth was strong, helped by supplying some tobacco products to the retailer’s new partner, McColl’s, earlier than initially planned.

Morrisons had previously announced that it would start supplying all McColl’s stores with Safeway products and national brands. That process will start this month.

Molly Johnson-Jones, a senior retail analyst at analytics firm GlobalData, said that Morrisons’ performance was particularly bolstered by its heavy promotions on alcohol over Christmas and that the group also benefitted from tapping into consumers’ increasing demanding premium products.

Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital said that the market had “not really been buying into Morrisons’ recent run of form” but that Tuesday figures were “very impressive” and “could turn the tide of opinion”.

Retail trading updates for the Christmas period have so far been mixed.

John Lewis last week revealed record-breaking sales during the week running up to Christmas, and Poundland and Next also reported upbeat figures, but Debenhams said that profits for the full year would likely be lower than previously expected as a result of a lacklustre performance.

Separately on Tuesday, figures compiled by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG showed that non-food sales had slumped across the UK in December.

Analysts said that rising inflation and stagnant wage growth had squeezed shoppers and forced them to spend a greater proportion of their budgets on essential food items.