Tesco pledges ‘affordable Christmas’ after its sales increase as shoppers ‘switch’ from ‘premium retailers’ amid cost of living crisis

Tesco has announced its sales have increased over the past six months as food inflation has eased.

The supermarket said it has seen a jump in profits as it was boosted by investment in its prices to help struggling customers amid the cost of living crisis.

It also said shoppers have been switching “from premium retailers to Tesco”.

Tesco told shareholders that group sales, excluding VAT and fuel, grew by 8.9% to £30.75 billion for the six months to August, compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, adjusted operating profit grew by 14% to £1.48 billion across the group for the half-year.

Ken Murphy, chief executive of Tesco, said the firm is “in a strong position to keep investing for customers” and it “will continue to lower prices wherever we can, doing everything in our power to make sure customers can have a fantastic, affordable Christmas by shopping at Tesco.”

He said Tesco knows “how challenging it is for many households across the country” amid the cost of living crisis and the company is “committed to doing everything we can to drive down food bills”.

Mr Murphy added: “This relentless focus on customers, combined with significant cost reductions from our ‘save to invest’ programme, has driven our strong performance in the first half of the year.

“Food inflation fell across the half and while external pressures remain, we expect that it will continue to do so in the second half of the year.”

The supermarket’s announcement comes after retail analyst Kantar found that Tesco has seen the biggest down-turn in sales since September 2013, with a 3% reduction in its market share.

Other supermarkets in the ‘traditional big four’, such asAsda,Sainsbury’s andMorrisons, have also failed to grow during this time.

However, over the past decade Aldi has grown its market share by a staggering 6.4% and Lidl a respectable 4.6% with consumers prioritising value.