Britons splurge £13bn on festive fun – but inflation may leave a nasty hangover

UK retail outlet Next has posted another rise in sales ahead of expectations over the Christmas period, but warned that a price increase is on the cards for 2025 as it looks to overcome raised costs following last year's Budget.

- JAMES MOORE

The average household spent £460 on take-home groceries, according to Kantar, which also reported that December was the busiest month in footfall since the panicky pre-lockdown rush of March 2020.

Star performers in the national shopping basket were premium own-label products; sales of this category jumped by 14.6 per cent. We’re talking here about Tesco Finest and the like. The reason I mention Tesco in particular is that its Finest £25 premier cru brut champagne showed Moet & Chandon a clean pair of heels in a blind tasting organised by Which?

Moet is a known brand, and as such expects you to pay through the nose to have it on your table: £44, approaching twice as much as the (better) own-label Tesco alternative.

Own-label is always cheaper than the branded equivalent, often considerably so. And often better. It seems the message has got home to shoppers; why spend your income keeping shareholders in the multinational conglomerates that own big brands in the style to which they have become accustomed? In the case of Moet, that would be France’s £249bn luxury goods monster, LVMH.