Lidl saw its total sales rise by 11% over the four weeks to 29 December with it experiencing its busiest ever trading day on 23 December.
The discounter highlighted that sales in the BWS category surged 13% with its wine proving particularly popular with sales growing by 20%. Cheese also performed well with a sales uplift of 55%.
Meanwhile, the chain also bucked wider trends in the general merchandise sector, with its sales growing by 9%.
The total sales growth figure was better than the 8% recorded over a similar period last year and confirms recent market data that shows significantly more people shopped in discount supermarkets over the festive period. However, as with its key rival Aldi, Lidl doesn’t provide like-for-like sales figures with much of its growth likely to have been driven by new store openings during the year.
Christian Härtnagel, Lidl GB Chief Executive, commented: “This was our 25th Christmas since first opening our doors in Britain, and what a Christmas it’s been, with more customers shopping at Lidl than ever before.
“We continued to open our doors to more communities across the country, which has no doubt contributed to our success. However, the number of customers switching to us in the lead up to Christmas shows the continued appeal of the Lidl offer.”
Lidl currently has 790 stores with plans to grow this to 1,000 stores by the end of 2023. It is currently driving its expansion with a £1.45bn investment spread over this year and last.
“After more than doubling our market share over the past ten years, we’re excited to be entering a new decade and all the potential it brings for us,” added Härtnagel.
NAM Implications:
- Not so much that Lidl are doing so well…
- …but that the mults are doing so badly.
- Lidl (and Aldi) are perfectly profiled for what UK consumers have been, and will continue to go through…
- …resulting in their continuing search for value…
- …learning consumption lessons that will not be easily reversed.
- Therefore other retailers and suppliers need to accommodate this permanent feature of the UK market.
