Sainsbury's enjoyed a stronger Christmas and new year period than any of the UK's other "big four" supermarket chains, new figures have revealed.
The Kantar Worldpanel's latest publication, covering the 12 weeks to January 23rd 2011, revealed the company saw its market share increase to 16.6 per cent - making it the only one of the major players to see growth over the period.
Tesco and Asda both maintained their market share to remain in first and second positions in the sector respectively, while Morrisons fell from 12.5 to 12.4 per cent.
Sainsbury's also fared well in the 14 weeks to January 8th, reporting that like-for-like sales were up 5.4 per cent, while the number of transactions in the Christmas week reached an all-time high of more than 24.5 million.
Communications director at the Kantar Worldpanel Edward Garner added Aldi and Lidl both posted "near ten per cent growth" over the quarter, despite January not traditionally being a strong month for discount supermarket brands.
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