Ocado and M&S have been named the fastest growing retailers over the past 12 weeks, with sales up 12.9% and 8.6%, respectively.

According to the latest data from NIQ, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Waitrose also gained market share over the period, while sales at Asda and Aldi suffered, down 5.9% and 1%, respectively, from the same 12 week period a year ago.

However, total till sales at UK supermarkets grew 3.6% in the four weeks to 13 July 2024, up from 1.1% in the previous month, which NIQ said was spurred by a week of hot summer weather at the end of June and the Euro 2024 football matches in early July.

While the level of promotional spend was maintained at 25%, more than a third (38%) of branded FMCG sales were purchased on promotion, up from 33% a year ago, amid the ‘summer of sport’.

NIQ said this was driven by beers, wines and spirits where promotions accounted for 51% of sales.

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Online sales also increased 3.8% within the four week period, with its share of FMCG growing to 12.9%.

While there were also more in-store visits, up 1.2%, this was offset by a smaller average basket spend per visit, down 1.3%, as shoppers remained cautious about discretionary spend.

Popular purchases included fresh meat and poultry, produce, crisps, and snacks which was the best performing category over the five weeks of the 2024 Euros, up 8.3% in value and 4.8% in units.

NIQ UK head of retailer and business insight Mike Watkins said: “The three major things that influence how shoppers spend are the weather, events and increased promotional activity. In the last few weeks all of these have been in play however, we’ve seen that strong branded promotions around Euro 2024 had the biggest impact at the start of the summer.

“We also saw subdued growth in consumer confidence compared to previous months. Whilst this sentiment may have a more direct impact on wider retail spend, such as big ticket items, for food retail it is the return of CPI inflation to 2% and increased promotional activity that encourages shoppers to spend.

“With the summer holiday season underway, retailers will need to encourage shoppers to keep spending for as long as the sun keeps shining and then have some compelling offers ready for back to school in September.”