Growth (by value) of British food sales for the four-week period ending December 27 was up by 2.6% year-over-year overall and by 4.5% year-over-year for grocery multiples.

“The consumer was much more cautious this year, and it was a back to basics Christmas,” Mike Watkins, senior manager, retailer services, Nielsen, noted.  “Sales of packaged grocery (+11%), frozen (+10%), and confectionery (+8%) were buoyant, while sales of liquor (+4%), heath and beauty (+1%), and deli counter (+1%) were more muted.”

Overall, “Out of Town” super stores (25,000 square feet+) were the star holiday performers, with sales up by 8% in the two weeks ending December 27, according to Nielsen.  The data suggests that shoppers held back on Christmas shopping, waiting until last minute and then maximizing their spending at larger stores.

Among “Out of Town” retailers, Asda had particularly strong sales growth (+6.7%).  The chain increased its market share from 15.7% during December 2007 to 16.1% this December, according to Nielsen.

Morrisons also showed impressive growth (+9.1%) during the 12 weeks ending December 27.  The retailer increasing its market share from 10.1% during Q4 2007 to 10.6% for the fourth quarter of 2008.

“Retailers with keen pricing and a value for money offering have really performed well over Christmas,” Watkins noted.  “It is evident that consumers really did cut back on the luxuries and make do this year.”

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Flagging sales in September, when growth dipped to 4.5% — a full percentage point below August growth levels, drove the declines.

“Shoppers are still trading down,” Mike Watkins, senior manager, retailer services, Nielsen noted.  “Family shoppers in particular, are trying to save money, with 70% saying on they are looking to economize on grocery shopping — up from 63% in June.” 

Among the top UK food retailers, Tesco remained the dominant value retailer, with a 28.3% share of grocery market spending during 12-week period ending October 4, 2008 — up 4.8% over the chain’s 28.0% share of value sales during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Asda widened its lead in value sales over Sainsbury (13.9% share), achieving a 15.4% share of value food sales (and 8.3% year over year value growth) versus its 2007 share (14.7%).

Morrisons recorded the strongest year-over-year value sales growth of the top four food retailers (+9.6%), while Iceland showed the strongest overall growth (14.5%) during the 12-week period.

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Consumers in the Asia-Pacific region, for example, are more inclined to save than to splurge if they have spare money, while Russian consumers pump their extra cash into expanding their wardrobe, according to Nielsen.

Meanwhile, people in Nordic countries continue to spend money on travel and vacations, while Brazilians are happy to stay home.

Discretionary income has also become increasingly scarce in countries throughout Europe and North America, according to Nielsen.  One-fifth of those surveyed by Nielsen in Britain, Germany, and France — and a quarter of Americans — have eliminated spending money for pleasure, The Economist noted.

Still, some small luxuries have remained immune to the economic gloom: 80% of Americans are continuing to shell out $10-$12 per ticket to catch movies on the big screen, Nielsen found.

Those results come from a recent Nielsen study that surveyed 40,000 British Internet users and identified websites with the highest concentrations of users in particular age groups.

Nearly half of all unique visitors (40%) to the websites for Student Loans Company, UCAS, and Student Finance Direct were between the ages of 18 and 22, Nielsen reported.  Video-related content sites like Sidereel, TV-Links, and Alluc.org were also popular with that age category.

Frengo (26% of unique audience), RuneScape (25%), and Bebo (19%) drew the largest share of the users in the 12- to 17-year-old category, while Stardoll (32%) and Club Penguin (29%) were most popular among children under 12, according to Nielsen.

Beermakers like Coors and Diageo, which owns Guinness, are hoping women, a largely untapped group of potential beer customers, will be drawn to sweeter, lighter new beers they’ve introduced. 

But that strategy alone may not be enough to boost beer sales, Graham Page of Nielsen told the Journal. 

“[Women] don’t consume the volume [of beer] — and that is crucial — that men do,” Page noted.

Nielsen’s list of the 10 fastest-growing UK websites included a site offering UK travel discounts, two coupon/reward sites, a shopping comparison site, and a site with classified ads for jobs, cars and homes.

“Sites tapping into consumer concerns about the economy, giving them the opportunity to save money, dominate the fastest growing list,” Alex Burmaster, Internet Analyst, Nielsen Online, told Brand Republic.

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Meanwhile, sales at low-cost food retailers are growing.  In the last 12 weeks, Tesco’s sales were up 6.1% over the same time perod last year. Sales at Asda (+8.9%) and Morrison’s (+9.5%) grew by even larger percentages during the same period.

“Shoppers have been making fewer visits to the major supermarkets,” Mike Watkins, Senior Manager, Retailer Services, Nielsen, noted.  “Instead they are maximising spend with less frequent, but big trolley shops to take advantage of the full range of offers.”

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