Probably not surprisingly last Wednesday, Marks and Spencer unveiled dire Christmas trading figures. Food sales dropped by 5.2% on a like-for-like basis over the 13 weeks to 27 December and that was despite the record £50m taken in the food halls on 23 December. The fallout from their worst performance in a decade has led to Sir Stuart Rose's decision to close 25 of the Simply Food and 2 main chain stores.
Waitrose, who also had a record day on 23 December, benefited from a "late shopping surge" in the last three days before Christmas with a 12% rise in like-for-like sales compared with the same period last year.
Then on Thursday, Sainsbury's announced a rise in third-quarter sales of 4.5%. The supermarket giant said sales for its online home delivery service had grown by 27% over the quarter, taking a record number of orders in the week before Christmas.
Earlier in the week the Co-op announced that they had achieved like-for-like growth, excluding fuel, of 6 per cent in the three weeks to January 3, helped by strong sales of beer, wine and spirits, soft drinks, seasonal lines and fresh food.
Results from Tesco, Asda and Morrison will be available shortly and it will be interesting to see how well they fared in the Christmas battle.
Although the country is in recession we obviously kept enough money back to splurge on food and drink. These early trading results suggest that the British love affair with Marks and Spencer has come to an end. But if it's just about price, why has Waitrose done so well when they are also one of the more up-market supermarkets?
Did you visit a different supermarket for your 2008 Christmas grocery shopping? If so, were you fully satisfied with the quality of the food, and will you make the switch a permanent one?
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