Asda has emerged as the surprise performer for January, with sales growing nine per cent year on year for the period, according to TNS data.
Sainsbury’s also enjoyed a strong start to the year, with sales up by 7.6 per cent, compared with 6.6 per cent in the previous period.
Tesco sales grow by 6.7 per cent continuing a yo-yo theme seen over the past few months and Morrisons showed a relatively poor performance, registering growth of 2.8 per cent - compared with 4.7 per cent in the previous period.
Overall market growth was 4.7 per cent, marking a slowdown on the previous period’s level of 5.9 per cent.
Waitrose commented that trading had been impacted by stormy weather, with high winds putting shoppers off, but JP Morgan said the weakening in sector growth marks a return towards normal growth after the exceptional December result.
“We also expect easing inflation had an impact,” said a spokesman for the research company.
Meanwhile, Tesco remains dominant in terms of market share, registering eight per cent growth to achieve a 31.5 per cent share, although it is seeing solid competition from the other top three retailers.
Both Asda and Sainsbury saw share increases, to 16.8 per cent and 16.5 per cent respectively, and Morrisons remains stable with sales increase of 4 per cent over the last year - its ninth successive period of growth.
