Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s confirmed that it has had its ‘best Christmas ever’ to round off a strong quarter.

Like-for-like sales excluding fuel rose 2.1 per cent on 2010, with two-year like-for-like sales up 5.2 per cent.

Customer transactions in the seven days to Christmas Day increased by 1.5 million to 26 million as the supermarket giant increased its market share percentage to 16.7 per cent at the expense of rival Tesco.

The sales growth was driven by a 10 per cent increase in sales from the ‘Taste the Difference’ (TtD) range, with £2 million worth of TtD turkeys sold over Christmas, and increased sales in the cheaper ‘Basics’ range as customers looked to cut food bills.

The success of the Brand Match scheme, where Sainsbury's customers are refunded the difference if they find a product at a cheaper price at Asda and Tesco, has encouraged the firm to extent the promotion into 2012.

While Sainsbury’s increased its floor space in 2011, opening its thousandth store, there was also huge growth in online groceries shopping, which jumped 20 per cent in the third quarter, with 160,000 orders per week over the Christmas period.

Sainsbury’s chief executive, Justin King, praised the ‘record breaking’ results, but sounded a cautious note over 2012 trading.

‘This was a strong quarter, rounded off by our best Christmas ever, despite the economic backdrop.

He continued, ‘Consistent with trends over the past year, we expect customers to spend cautiously in 2012, particularly in the first few months as they tighten their belts post-Christmas.’

Shares in Sainsbury’s rose on the FTSE opening bell but have since fallen back and were trading flat at around 306p at 9.50am.