NielsenIQ (NIQ) has today (7 January) released its latest grocery sales figures spanning the Christmas 2025 season.
In total, the market grew by +2.5% whilst unit sales declined (-0.2%), with total till sales at UK major supermarkets growing by +3% in the four weeks up to 27 December 2025.
Shoppers were revealed to have spent £19.6bn over the four-week period, with the new data showing that grocery sales peaked in the week ending 20 December - where shoppers spent £5.3bn - the biggest week of 2025.
With the extra day of trading the following week, with Christmas Eve on a Wednesday, this also benefited large full range stores, NIQ added.
Yet with 29% of households opting to shop for groceries online, this was the fastest-growing channel at +9.9%, which helped to drive ecommerce share to 13.5% of sales, up from 12.6% last year.
While promotional spend increased to 27% of sales, this Christmas, shoppers were more considered in what they purchased. NIQ’s data shows consumers shopped more often (+1.4%) on and offline for their groceries, and spent a little more each time they shopped with spend per visit up +1.1% on last year at £22.24.
Premium own label value sales grew by +5.6%, and unit sales by +3.1%, accounting for 28% of all own label sales this December, indicating consumers were still keen to treat and indulge where they could afford.
In terms of category performance, impulse items such as soft drinks, snacks and confectionery grew by +5.7% and fresh foods grew +4.9%, as intense competition drove retailers to make significant price cuts in the last week before Christmas.
Frozen foods also saw an increase (+1.2%) while beer, wine and spirits declined (-0.1%).
As you might expect, shoppers buy more fresh foods at this time of the year and in fact 32% of ecommerce sales in December were fresh foods, the biggest super category, growing by +9.9%.
Mike Watkins (left), head of retailer and business insight at NielsenIQ, said: “It’s clear that the convenience of shopping online benefited a lot of UK shoppers over the 2025 Christmas period.
“By taking advantage of booking delivery slots in advance, shoppers could do a ‘big Christmas shop’ online, including fresh foods, which helped drive growth. This was then supplemented with in-store visits in the last few days before Christmas, allowing shoppers to search for further seasonal discounts, treats and indulgences.
“Those retailers with sales momentum at the start of the quarter were able to extend this through to the end of December. Considering the external mood music and the continued pressure on household finances, it was a Christmas of cautious celebration and a good four weeks for most food retailers.”
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