, Jan. 4 -- "The traditional retailers always tend to do well in the run-up to Christmas and this year was no exception," says Kantar head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt.

"Supermarkets saw especially strong performances for their own-label lines, with sales of premium ranges like Sainsbury's Taste the Difference and Tesco Finest surging by 11.9% compared with last year to hit £790m - accounting for 5.7% of all grocery sales," expands McKevitt.

Consumers spent £13.7bn in the run-up to Christmas, the research noted, with the average household spending up 6% to £477 across the month.

It said that almost a third of all spending over the period was made on items with some kind of promotional offer, up by more ...