Tesco is predicting its biggest ever Christmas this year, backed by extended opening hours, expanded ranges and more services on offer.

Richard Brasher, Tesco UK commercial and trading director, said: “We are backing Christmas this year and we are playing to win. We have the biggest range, are opening our stores for more hours and are providing more staff to help our customers than ever before.”

Tesco has increased the amount of space it allocates to Christmas in its large Extra stores by 5%, meaning 30% of each store is devoted to festive goods.

Brasher said he expected the trend for families to spend more time at home to continue, reflected in shopping habits with customers buying everything from “home entertainment to party food”.

This year Tesco expects to sell 750,000 turkeys, 26.5 million carrots, 14 million mince pies, 800,000 blocks of Stilton cheese and one million bottles of Champagne. It will also sell 17,000 gravy boats and over one million artificial trees.

Brasher said: “We have rolled out click and collect, which vastly extends the range we can offer customers in store. Customers will be able to get anything from the traditional toys like monopoly and wooden toys to the latest technology such as the Samsung Galaxy Tablet and iPhone.”

Tesco has extended its Finest range for this year, to more than 1,000 products. Finest is now the biggest brand in the UK, worth £1.4bn, followed by Value, then Coca-Cola, according to Nielsen data.