Britain’s biggest supermarket group, Tesco, said today it saw strong sales over Christmas and New Year as customers bought DVD players, CDs and wide-screen televisions.
Like-for-like sales – which strip out the effect of new store openings – for the seven weeks to 4 January rose 4.8% in its UK stores.
The group said its sales were strong when compared with rivals.
A spokeswoman for Tesco, which owns 730 supermarkets in the UK, said: “By any standards our UK sales – up 4.8% – were very strong when compared with others.”
She said DVD players proved popular over Christmas, while PC sales shot up 130% against the previous year’s festive trading period.
Other good sellers were multimedia games – 86% ahead of last year – and music CDs, which soared 91%.
Wide-screen televisions also sold well, with 2,500 bought in the Christmas week.
Other good sellers included Tesco’s own-brand champagne, smoked salmon and British-made sausages.
Tesco has been watching from the outside as rivals bid for smaller supermarket firm Safeway.
The spokeswoman said today: “This is a significant development and we are monitoring the position carefully but we never comment on speculation about bids and mergers.”
EGi News 14/01/03
