German discounters Aldi and Lidl notched up their highest ever market shares over the Christmas season, while Sainsbury’s and Tesco outshone their traditional supermarket rivals, according to figures.

Kantar data showed that Sainsbury’s reached its highest market share for three years, at 15.8% in the 12 weeks to December 24, up from 15.5% a year earlier as it saw sales jump 9.3%.

Its larger rival Tesco increased its market share to 27.6%, up from 27.5% a year ago, as sales lifted 7.5%.

Aldi and Lidl were again the fastest growing of the supermarkets, with sales up 9.9% and 13.8% respectively.

Aldi, which is the UK’s fourth biggest grocery chain after overtaking Morrisons in 2022, had a 9.3% share of the market, up from 9.1% a year ago, while Lidl’s share jumped to 7.7% from 7.2%.

Traditional players Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose accounted for a combined market share of 70% over the quarter to December 24, boosted by strong demand for premium own-label ranges.

But among those chains, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose lost out to their bigger rivals Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

Asda’s share slipped to 13.6% in the quarter, down from 14% a year earlier, with Morrisons falling to 8.8% from 9.1% and Waitrose dropping to 4.6% from 4.7%.

The Kantar data comes ahead of Christmas trading updates from Sainsbury’s on January 10, followed by Tesco and Marks & Spencer on January 11.

Aldi and Lidl were first out of the stalls with their festive figures on Tuesday, both claiming record performances.

Aldi hailed its “best ever” Christmas performance, with UK sales up 8% year-on-year to a record of more than £1.5 billion in the four weeks to December 24.

Lidl reported year-on-year UK sales growth of 12% in the month to December 24 and cheered its busiest ever trading day on Friday December 22.