LONDON (Reuters) - J Sainsbury (L:SBRY) was the Christmas winner among Britain's so called "big four" grocers, industry data showed on Tuesday, although smaller German discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to grab market share.
Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said all of the big four -- Tesco (L:TSCO), Asda (N:WMT), Sainsbury's and Wm Morrison (L:MRW) -- posted sales declines in the period amid a fierce industry price war, but that Sainsbury's fared best.
Sainsbury's sales fell 0.7 percent over the 12 weeks to Jan 4, Kantar said, compared with falls of 1.2 percent at market leader Tesco and 1.6 percent at Asda and Morrisons.
All of the big four also saw their market share slip in the period, with Tesco's trimmed from 29.6 percent to 29.1 percent.
Sainbury's, Tesco and Morrisons have all recently published Christmas trading statements, all coming in ahead of analyst forecasts.
Aldi and Lidl, whose cheap, limited ranges have proved increasingly popular with Britain's shoppers, saw their year-on-year market shares rise from 4 percent to 4.8 percent and 3.1 percent to 3.5 percent respectively, Kantar said.
More than half of all British households visited at least one of the two firms over the 12 week period.
Sales at Aldi grew 22.6 percent in the period, with Lidl posting a rise of 15.1 percent. The rate of growth at both slowed, however, from 22.3 percent at Aldi and 18.3 percent at Lidl in the 12 weeks to Dec. 7.
Heavy price reductions encouraged shoppers to spend a little more over the Christmas period, Kantar said, with the overall grocery market up 0.6 percent in the 12 week period -- its strongest performance since August.