The grocery discounters Aldi and Lidl both rang up their best ever Christmas sales performance in the UK as shoppers sought ways to save cash during the cost of living crisis.
Lidl’s sales rose 12% in the four weeks to Christmas, helped by an 11% rise in sales of the chain’s premium Deluxe own-label foods, while sales of its Montaudon brut champagne doubled.
The German-owned chain said 4.5 million people visited its tills in the run-up to Christmas. Popular products included its own-brand Christmas jumper, sales of which were up 40%.
The supermarket is likely to have grown faster than all of its rival grocers over Christmas, continuing its run from November.
At Aldi, sales rose by 8% to top more than £1.5bn in the four weeks to Christmas for the first time. The grocer said the strong figures topped a year in which it had attracted half a million more shoppers as they switched away from mainstream supermarkets including Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
The retailer said its customers had bought 42m pigs in blankets. Alternatives to the traditional turkey were popular, with 25% more Specially Selected gammon joints popped into baskets.
Lidl and Aldi had their busiest ever day of trading on Friday 22 December.
The stock market-listed supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury’s are due to report how they fared in the run-up to Christmas next week as part of the annual flood of festive retail figures, which escalates on Thursday when the fashion and homewares chain Next reports.
Giles Hurley, the chief executive of Aldi UK and Ireland, promised to continue lowering the cost of groceries, and said the retailer was “really grateful that so many customers chose Aldi for their main Christmas shop this year”.
Ryan McDonnell, the chief executive of Lidl in Great Britain, said: “I’m incredibly proud of our performance this Christmas in what was the busiest trading period in our history. As the fastest-growing supermarket in the country, we welcomed more customers through our doors than ever before.
“Deluxe proved to be a standout winner this Christmas, with record-breaking sales, as we saw customers not only start their festive celebrations early but trade up to premium lines across all categories.”
The strong trading figures come after industry data showed that Aldi and Lidl gained market share in November while Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose and the Co-op lost out. Tesco and Sainsbury’s, the UK’s two biggest supermarkets, gained share as they offered loyalty card holders additional discounts.
Grocery discounters have fared well during the cost of living crisis as households look for ways to save money after energy bills, petrol and household goods have risen in price.
In the past year, shoppers have been switching to the discounters, as well as buying more own-label goods, to offset hefty food price inflation, which was 6.7% in December, according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium.
The discount retailers have experienced a bounce-back after a tough time during the Covid pandemic when many shoppers chose to buy more groceries online, a service that the cut-price grocers do not usually offer as they cannot do so profitably.
Aldi and Lidl have taken a bigger slice of grocery sales by opening dozens of stores each year, while the big chains are opening just a handful of large outlets. Lidl has 960 stores and Aldi 1,010, and both have plans to expand much further.
