Supermarket giant Tesco reported strong festive sales on Thursday, with its ‘Free From’ and clothing ranges leading the rise.
Like-for-like sales in the Christmas period grew 0.7 percent in the UK, up by 0.3 percent across the group as a whole. Tesco said their fresh food sales significantly outperformed the market, with food like-for-like sales up 1.3 percent.
The festive period also saw the store benefit from strong performance in clothing and toys, with sales up 4.3 percent and 8.5 percent respectively.
Tesco also released their third quarter results on Thursday, which saw like-for-like sales growth 1.8 percent in their first quarterly market share gain since 2011.
Dave Lewis, Tesco’s chief executive, commented:
“We are very encouraged by the sustained strong progress that we are making across the Group. In the UK, we saw our eighth consecutive quarter of volume growth and delivered a third successful Christmas. Our fresh food ranges proved particularly popular, outperforming the market with great quality, innovative new products and even more affordable prices. Internationally, we have continued to focus on improving our offer for customers in challenging market conditions.”
The company implemented a new customer service strategy in the run-up to Christmas, hiring 15,000 more people and making improvements to the store ordering system to create a simpler customer experience.
“We are well-placed against the plans we shared in October to become more competitive for customers, simpler for colleagues, and an even better partner for our suppliers, whilst creating long-term value for our shareholders,” Lewis added.
“I would like to thank all of our colleagues for everything they have done to serve our customers brilliantly over this very busy period.”
Despite the relatively strong figures, Tesco (LON:TSCO) shares dropped more than 2 percent in early trading after non-food sales in the UK disappointed investors. Shares in Tesco are currently down 2.35 percent at 203.9 (0925GMT).