We make a big deal of all the supermarkets’ Christmas ads when they land, so it’s worth taking a look at how those retailers perform off the back of these creative endeavours. There’s only so much that advertising can do when inflation is running high and the job market is weakening, but clients are always hoping for a Christmas miracle.
The Waitrose campaign featuring Keira Knightley and Joe Wilkinson was the biggest hit in adland, and agency Wonderhood Studios seem to have delivered results, too: sales grew at 4.5% in the four weeks to late December (Kantar), ahead of the overall market’s 3.8% growth.
Asda was the only big supermarket to register a decline with sales down 4.2% to leave it with a share of 11.4%. Lucky Generals did their best to get the customers in with help from The Grinch, but the retailer has problems – debt, a botched IT upgrade, poor staff morale, and a feeling that it’s lost its way – that no agency could overcome in a single ad campaign.
Sainsbury’s and New Commercial Arts returning BFG didn’t make as many headlines as Waitrose, but seems to have done the trick. The retailer reported its “biggest ever share of Christmas” market at 16.3%, up from 16% last year. Sales for the quarter were up 5.2% in the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas (Kantar).
Tesco and BBH have forged a good partnership over the last few years, and this year’s gritty realism helped the UK’s biggest supermarket to increase its profits guidance off the back of strong Christmas 2025 sales, particularly in fresh food which was up 6.6%. Sales grew 4.3% in the 12 weeks leading up to the end of December 2025, resulting in a market share of 28.7%, the highest since March 2015
M&S’s in-house ad with Dawn French distributing party food from the back of a truck in a traffic jam helped grocery sales grow by 8.9% over a 12 week period. And its online grocery joint venture, Ocado, rose by an impressive 15%.
Ads for discounters Aldi and Lidl didn’t make a big noise within the industry, but Aldi’s returning Kevin the Carrot (McCann) and Lidl’s “More to value this Christmas” (Accenture Song) helped them to take their biggest share of Christmas so far. Cost-conscious shoppers also helped send Lidl’s sales up 10% and market share by 0.5% to 7.8%. Aldi’s 3.9% sales growth put its market share at 10.1%.
The overall picture seems to be that while supermarket sales hit a record of £13.8 billion over the festive period, volume sales were down: the average growth rate of 3.8% was behind grocery inflation at 4.3%.
Customers were all about smart savings this year, leaning on loyalty cards and promotions, according to Kantar’s Worldpanel by Numerator. Promotions made up 33.3% of total sales (up from 32% in 2024) while premium ranges and discounters enjoyed their biggest ever Christmas share.
