In the 12 weeks ending on July 13, 2025, Tesco's sales grew by 7.1 percent, the highest figure since December 2023. Tesco experienced peak sales growth throughout the pandemic. In the 12 weeks ending in July 2020, sales grew by just over ** percent when compared to the same period in the previous year. Throughout 2020 and 2021, this growth dipped, even reaching a loss of *** percent in November 2021. During the second half of 2022 and 2023, growth picked up again. This coincided with periods of high inflation felt around the world. A market leader under attackTesco’s is the biggest of the so-called big four, a group of supermarkets including Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Morrisons that dominate the UK market. However, in September 2022, Aldi overtook Morrisons as the fourth largest supermarket in the UK; Tesco's position as market leader is currently under attack. In April of 2019, a merger, which would have cost the company the number one spot on the British grocery market, of Sainsbury’s and Asda failed. Tesco in numbersTesco operates just over ***** stores in the UK. The company made a revenue of roughly ***** billion British pounds in the UK and Republic of Ireland in 2023/24, approximately ** times the revenue that the company makes in Central Europe.

In December 2020, an average of 4.22 billion British pounds (GBP) worth of goods were purchased in food stores across Great Britain per week. This represented a record amount spent on food purchases, but was also expected as Christmas season typically means increased food sales across retail stores. As of June 2025, average weekly sales stood at around 3.37 billion British pounds. For data concerning the percentage change in the value of sales in food stores, please see the following.
A shopping rhythm The overall structure of yearly spending remained the same during the period in consideration. January, coinciding with the Veganuary campaign which encourages people to eat vegan as an alternative dietary choice in January, sees a sharp drop after a peak spending during the month of December. After January a few months see an increase leading to an early summer high. After a drop in early autumn November sees the prelude to increased Christmas spending. Grocery market in the United Kingdom The overall value of the UK grocery retail market was estimated to amount to 216.8 billion British pounds in 2022. Of this, about 166.3 billion sales were made in predominantly food stores in 2022. Supermarkets had the highest share of grocery sales in the UK.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the United Kingdom has caused an increase in consumer spending in grocery stores across the country. Compared to the same period in the previous year sales in the 12 week period ending on the 22nd of March have increased by double digits for Aldi, Iceland, Ocado and Lidl. With Lidl showing the biggest growth in sales with 17.6 percent. Morrisons showed the smallest growth in sales with 4.6 percent. Of the big four supermarkets (Asda, Sainsbury's, Teso and Morrisons), Sainsbury's saw the biggest increase in sales numbers.

In 2021, the size of the UK grocery market stood at around *** billion British pounds. The market has been steadily growing since 2004 and is estimated to reach over *** billion British pounds by 2027. Grocery retail channels It was estimated that in 2027, supermarkets will be the largest sales channel for grocery retail with a value of almost ** billion pounds. Online channels are expected to amount to **** billion pounds. UK grocery market The five leading companies on the grocery market are Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, and Aldi. It was only the German discounter Aldi that saw rapid growth and has proven to be a significant disruptive force on the market. On average, households in the UK spent **** British pounds on food and non-alcoholic drinks per week in 2020.

This statistic shows total annual sales for all retailing in Great Britain, expressed as a weekly average from 2005 to 2024. Over the time period observed, the average weekly sales in the UK experienced slight fluctuations but increased overall. In 2024, approximately 111 billion British pounds worth of sales per week were made across all retail sectors.

In the 12 weeks leading up to March 17, 2024, sales at Asda increased by *** percent compared to the same period a year earlier. Between the 9th of November 2014 and the 26th of March 2017, Asda’s sales on the British market shrank. After that period its sales started to grow again even surpassing a growth rate of *** percent four times until March 2019. However, in the second half of 2019 and early 2020, Asda saw a devastating decline in sales. Sales picked up in April 2020, likely due to the impact of the pandemic on food shopping behavior. Since then, sales have continued to grow at similar levels due to the impacts of inflation. Competition by German discountersThe two discounters Aldi and Lidl had a higher sales growth in Britain than Asda during the entire period covered here. However, not only was the sales growth of both discounters higher than that of Asda, but during the entire time frame it was higher than Asda’s peak growth of ** percent in the twelve weeks leading up to July 12, 2020. Other big grocersWhile the two German discounters had a significant sales growth on the British market, other competitors, such as Tesco, Morrisons, and Sainsbury’s, struggled with their sales growth as much or more than Asda.

The statistic presents the leading five retailers for pet care products in the United kingdom (UK) in 2017, ranked by sales value. In the 52 weeks ending September 10th 2017, Tesco sold approximately ***** million pounds worth of pet care products. Pets at Home is the largest specialist pet care retailer in the UK, selling just under *** million pounds worth of products in 2017.

Ocado Group reported more than *** billion British pounds in revenues for the 53 weeks ending December 1, 2024. The online supermarket had less than *** million British pounds in revenues in 2011. However, revenue streams steadily increased over the years and surpassed the ***-billion-pound threshold during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Online grocery pioneer When Ocado was founded in Hatfield, England in 2000, very few people were thinking about ordering their groceries on the internet. Fast forward to 2022 and more than ** percent of UK shoppers report doing at least part of their grocery shopping online. That year, Ocado had approximately ******* active customers, up from*******0 only two years prior. Online supermarkets in the UK In the grocery retail landscape in the UK, Ocado competes with big supermarket chains like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Asda. As of April 2023, Ocado ranked fourth among the most popular grocery websites in the UK based on visit share. That month, tesco.com had the highest web traffic among selected online supermarkets at nearly ** million visits. In comparison, ocado.com had approximately *** million monthly visitors.