Sainsbury’s enjoyed a growth in pre-Christmas sales overtaking many rivals even though they spent less on advertising .
Nielsen, the market research company found that the company saw a 10.1 per cent rise in sales in the month leading up to Christmas day.
Tesco and Morrisons growth was 6.9 per cent and Asda underperformed slightly with a growth of 5.8 per cent compared to the same period in previous years.
Last minute purchases of meat, poultry and fish in December saw Sainsburys surge ahead of its rivals whereas sales of alcoholic drinks peaked in November.
Snow delayed the start to festive shopping but a record of £3.36m was recorded for grocery sales in the week before Christmas day up on the 2009 figure by 16 per cent.
The top four supermarkets are expected to release trading updates next week.
