Like-for-like sales at Morrisons have fallen 5.6 per cent in the six weeks to 5 January.
The retailer blamed a lack of online presence and competition from the likes of Aldi and Lidl as being behind the fall. The like-for-like sales figures do exclude new stores, however.
Meanwhile, Tesco's like-for-like sales also fell, down by 2.4 per cent during the Christmas period.
The supermarket giant said the fall was partly due to a 'weaker grocery market' in the UK.
In a statement, Morrisons, which launches its online shopping service this Frisay (10 January), said: 'The difficult market conditions were intensified for Morrisons by the accelerating importance of the online and convenience channels, where Morrisons is currently under-represented, and by targeted couponing which was particularly prevalent in the market this Christmas.'
Philip Clarke, chief executive at Tesco, pinpointed its move to open fewer stores in the UK as being behind the festive sales slump.
The retailer said its website had fared strongly over Christmas, with a 14 per cent increase in the number of UK online sales.
He said: 'As expected, this Christmas saw a further consumer shift towards multichannel retailing, and Tesco continues to play a leading role.
'The increasing focus we have placed in recent years on extending our lead in online grocery and on rolling out our Express format to over 1,600 stores in the UK alone has positioned us well to meet customers' changing needs.'
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