LONDON - The UK's biggest retailer, Tesco PLC is expected to report strong Christmas sales in the coming week. Its figures are supposed to be well ahead of its supermarket rivals including Sainsbury's, which reported strong sales in Christmas period last week.
Analysts say that Tesco is in line to report a 5.6 percent increase in like-for-like sales in the X-mas period. These figures exclude petrol sales, according to Goldman Sachs. Sainsbury’s reported 5.2 percent increase in sales, while Wm Morrison reported a 2.8 percent gain in the Christmas period. Asda has not yet released its figures for the Christmas weeks, but these are expected to be higher than Morrisons' figures. Retail experts have predicted that Tesco is all set to beat its rivals in the coming year.
Goldman Sachs said that only Tesco stands to benefit from the price cutting war that the supermarkets are expected to unleash on the consumers. The report says that the supermarkets are slated to spend £1.2 billion towards price cutting this year as opposed to the £1 billion spent last year.
But only Tesco will benefit from these price cutting measures since they have an efficient system of supply chains. "We expect each of the four main players to sharpen their price positions and believe that, as a result, any market share grab will be more hotly contested than it has been for years," the report said.
Posted
on : Sun, 15 Jan 2006 14:40 GMT | Business News
By : Mark Richardson
|
