By Sean Poulter PUBLISHED: 02:47 EST, 9 January 2014 | UPDATED: 05:50 EST, 10 January 2014 In the cut-throat battle for  Christmas sales, Tesco, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer all announced humiliating defeats yesterday. Tesco and Morrisons have been squeezed by a shift in shopping habits as customers desert to budget rivals. In the City, shares in the two supermarkets were marked down amid warnings that profits will be below expectations. The rise of online shopping and a move away from a big weekly shop also played a part, with families choosing to buy little and often online or at convenience stores.
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M&S suffer tenth quarterly drop in clothes and home sales - down 2.1%
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Tesco sales down 2.4% and Morrisons slump 5.6% over festive period
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But Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl flourish after marvellous Christmas
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Shares in Tesco and Morrisons slump after bad news is revealed
Arguably, Morrisons is in an even deeper hole than @placeholder, with festive sales down by 5.6 per cent on a year ago, significantly more than at Tesco.