Champagne helps Waitrose celebrate a bumper New Year

Supermarket chain Waitrose has said that shoppers stocking up on Champagne and party food have helped it to enjoy record festive sales.

The UK supermarket said that like-for-like sales were 5.4% higher than last year for the period between 18 and 31 December. Total sales in the 12-day period broke the £300 million for the first time across Waitrose’s 288 shops.

Managing director Mark Price said: “Our sales for the festive period as a whole have been record-breaking, but the 12 trading days leading up to New Year’s Eve were exceptional as customers got ready for family entertaining and parties.”

Waitrose extended its shopping hours over Christmas and New Year, with some stores staying open until 11pm. Last week it reported that in its Christmas trading period, between 4 November and 24 December, sales (excluding fuel) were up 7.7% and 4.3% on a like-for-like basis. This represents the retailer’s biggest Christmas on record.

Next week the country’s biggest supermarkets – Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons – will report on their figures for the Christmas trading period.

On Wednesday db reported that sales of Prosecco outperformed Champagne at a number of UK wine retailers. Tesco reported a 50% increase in year-on-year Prosecco sales and while Champagne sales are up at Waitrose, Prosecco was the star performer.