UK roundup: Christmas trading performance

In this instalment, our UK analysts offer their take on some of the market’s latest developments and initiatives. Here’s what you need to know about:

• Premium private label drives discounter Christmas success

• Ocado leads the market for growth in latest Worldpanel data

• Tesco and Morrisons begin the year with new price initiatives

• Home Bargains delivered strong FY 2025

• Retailers bring a host of GLP-1 friendly products to market

• Ocado looking to adopt M&S Sparks loyalty scheme

• Wing Yip dips a toe into small-format retailing 

Premium private label drives discounter Christmas success

Aldi reported its strongest Christmas to date, with growth of 3% year-on-year in the four weeks leading to Christmas Eve, reaching sales of £1.65bn. Around a third of the revenue came in the week leading up to the big day, with products like Specially Selected premium private label being in high demand. Lidl also saw exceptional growth in the same period, with sales up 10% YoY to £1.1bn. It cited its investment in value as a key driver of success; the Deluxe premium party food range was a shopper favourite that delivered triple-digit growth.

Senior Insight Analyst, Michela Pearson’s view: The commitment both discounters have made to providing premium value through their private label offering is clearly resonating with British shoppers, as both retailers reported record numbers of shoppers during the festive period. The discounters will look to continue this momentum into 2026, with both planning ambitious expansion and continuously investing in their value proposition.

Coming to Retail Analysis in February: a deep dive into Aldi and Lidl’s UK strategies.

Ocado leads the market for growth in latest Worldpanel data

Worldpanel by Numerator’s latest grocery market sales data for 12 weeks to 28 December has Ocado Retail leading the market with 15.0% growth year-on-year. Lidl was the second fastest growing retailer with 10.0% growth, followed by M&S growing at 7.2%, Sainsbury’s at 5.2%, Waitrose at 4.5%, Tesco at 4.3% and Aldi growing at 3.9%, all performing ahead of the market, which grew at 3.5%. Iceland with 3.4% growth and Morrisons with 2.6% growth underperformed the market, while Co-op and Asda’s sales declined 1.3% and 4.2% respectively.

Senior Insight Analyst, Alex Rowberry’s view: Worldpanel’s Christmas data doesn’t contain any great surprises, with retailer’s Christmas sales inline with performance leading into the festive season. The latest sales figures see Tesco Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Waitrose and Ocado growing market share most notably at the expense of Asda.

Tesco and Morrisons begin the year with new price initiatives

Tesco and Morrisons have marked the start of the new year with new price initiatives. Tesco has replaced its ‘Low Everyday Prices’ scheme, which guaranteed low prices on 1,000 everyday household products, with ‘Everyday Low Prices’ that will see prices on more than 3,000 branded products kept consistently low. Morrisons is continuing its investment into affordable everyday shopping with a further round of price cuts, reducing the price of 2,500 private label and branded products.

Senior Insight Analyst, Alex Rowberry’s view: The move from Tesco is a significant shakeup to its established price initiatives. By tripling the number of products and placing the focus on brands, noticeably so by calling out well-known brand straplines in the communication of the scheme, Tesco will increase pressure on Asda as it seeks to be 5-10% cheaper than its full-line rivals. Morrisons latest round of price cuts continues the strategy started in September of offering shoppers low prices without requiring membership of its More Card loyalty scheme.

Home Bargains delivered strong FY 2025

Variety discounter, Home Bargains, has continued to grow, opening 15 new stores and reaching total sales of £4.55bn in the year to 30 June 2025 (+7.9% YoY). Operating profits also grew, with an increase of 13.4% to almost £500m. Plans for 2026 include continued network expansion, with a long-term plan of operating between 800 and 1,000 stores across the country.

Senior Insight Analyst, Michela Pearson’s view:  Home Bargain’s continued success, significantly outpacing the market and other retailers both within and out     of the channel, is remarkable. It is getting the fundamentals of retailing right: a clear value proposition, a broad offering, and clean stores with good availability are helping it stay ahead of competition. The investment in its network and private label development is also a key driver of success and increased profits. We expect to see more success in FY 2026.

Look out for the latest Home Bargains snapshot, coming to Retail Analysis next week.

Retailers bring a host of GLP-1 friendly products to market

Morrisons, Co-op and M&S have all launched GLP-1 friendly product ranges to mark the start of the year. Morrisons range is part of a three-year licensing deal with Applied Nutrition that will see the retailer formulate, produce and sell Applied Nutrition branded meals and products, including GLP-1 friendly ready meals, under the retailer’s ‘Small & Balanced’ range. Co-op’s range of GLP-1 friendly private label ready meals, a first for UK convenience, will sit within its ‘Good Fuel’ health offer, tailored to shoppers with smaller appetites. M&S has brought a new range of salads, snacks and meals to market, titled ‘Nutrient Dense’. Designed in consultation with the British Nutrition Foundation, the range will help shoppers with reduced appetites meet their nutritional needs.

Senior Insight Analyst, Alex Rowberry’s view: with three very different retailers all launching GLP-1 friendly ranges at the same time, 2026 is already shaping up to be a turning point in how industry responds to the growing use and awareness of weight loss medications. For retailers yet to launch GLP-1 ranges, the expectation should be these products are in the pipeline and will become a common sight across the market by the end of the year. The branding of products as nutrient dense, high in fibre and protein will likely increase the appeal of these products beyond the intended GLP-1 shopper.

Ocado looking to adopt M&S Sparks loyalty scheme 

Ocado has embarked on a recruitment process for a Loyalty Lead to oversee the adoption of M&S’ Sparks loyalty programme on its core e-commerce platform. M&S and Ocado have a joint venture that operates the Ocado online supermarket and the new role will be responsible for "shaping the future of our loyalty programme and propositions, with the goal of driving more lifetime value and delivering a brilliant experience to customers.” The adoption of Sparks is planned to sit alongside Ocado’s existing loyalty-building initiatives such as Smart Pass. The new Loyalty Lead will “work in conjunction with the M&S Sparks team to design a multi-phased loyalty proposition, defining the right rewards and benefits, identifying data, legal and tech requirements, and developing trial plans to build on key learnings.”

Retail Futures Senior Partner Bryan Roberts’ view: Intriguing to see Ocado considering the adoption of the Sparks loyalty programme. From the Ocado perspective, it was often thought that Ocado was in less need of a loyalty scheme as it already has reams of data and insights, but it should be remembered that the principal objective of a loyalty programme should be saying ‘thank you’ to loyal customers and Sparks could help deliver on that goal. For M&S, the broadening of Sparks will facilitate richer insights across a broader customer base and a broader mix of products including brands. The job spec also mentions monetisation opportunities and supplier funding, so it will be interesting to see how ‘Ocado x Sparks’ creates new opportunities for brands to activate on the Ocado platform.

Wing Yip dips a toe into small-format retailing

Leading Asian retailer Wing Yip opened its first small-format urban concept DIDI in December 2025. The Birmingham-based Asian retail and wholesale operator has previously only traded through four larger superstores in Manchester, Croydon, Cricklewood and Birmingham. Located in a former Poundland on a high street location in Watford, Wing Yip DIDI is a very impressive concept encompassing fresh, frozen and ambient with some nice touches in food-for-now including bakery, hot food, hot drinks and a self-service ramen bar. The decor is very smart, and the store also includes digital aspects such as screens and ESLs. 

Retail Futures Senior Partner, Bryan Roberts’ view: An enhanced ‘world foods’ proposition is a key feature that we highlighted in our recent global retail trends report. This proposition can be delivered through specialist retailers like Wing Yip, via the launch of specialised formats from mainstream grocers or through existing supermarkets raising their world foods game via better ranging and merchandising. A growing demand for ‘ethnic’ food is not just down to increasing migration and diversity: younger shoppers in particular are deriving a more globalised perspective on cuisine from social media, and we expect both brands and retailers alike to double down on the opportunity that this creates.  

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