SUPERMARKET chain Asda said shoppers planned ahead to beat the bad weather after busier-than-usual trading in the two weeks before Christmas.

After the snow left shoppers without last-minute essentials in 2009, Asda said many customers opted to split their big shop over two trips this year.

December 23 was still the chain’s busiest festive day, with a record 4m customers in its 384 UK supermarkets.

However, the fortnight leading up to Christmas saw 11 stores record sales of more than £7m, compared with the nine that passed the figure in 2009.

Asda chief executive Andy Clarke said: “The combination of bad weather and people working hard to budget this year has meant the Christmas shop has been spread across a longer period of time, with shoppers making a couple of trips to stock up for the festive season.”

While Asda has not disclosed trading figures for the period, it described the run-up to Christmas as good and said it was “pleased with the continuing momentum”. In November, Asda reported a return to sales growth for the third quarter of its financial year as it benefited from initiatives such as price-matching and the revamp of the supermarket’s up-market Extra Special range.