Christmas 2023: Aldi and Lidl report 'best ever' Christmas sales as Tesco, Sainsbury's and M&S yet to reveal

Discounters Aldi and Lidl chains have revealed record Christmas, saying Christmas 2023 was their "best ever" in the UK.

Aldi noted its UK sales of more than £1.5 billion for the first time in the month leading up to Christmas. The company, which has more than 1,010 stores across the UK, said sales lifted 8% year on year in the four weeks to 24 December.

Meanwhile, its rival Lidl also claimed its best Christmas yet, reporting year-on-year UK sales growth of 12% in the four weeks to 24 December.

The supermarket said it saw around 4.5 million more shoppers in its 960 stores in the UK, reporting its busiest-ever trading day on Friday 22 December.

But inflation accounted for some of the firms’ sales growth, with recent official figures showing food prices rose by 9.2% in November, though this was down from 10.1% in October, and despite the record trading, their sales growth was down sharply on growth seen in Christmas 2022, when inflation was running at a 45-year high.

In December 2022, Aldi posted a 26% jump in sales over December, while Lidl saw sales rise by 24.5%.

The groups are the first out of the stalls with their Christmas trading figures, with the Big Four supermarkets yet to report.

Tesco and Sainsbury’s will reveal their sales performance next week, on 11 January and 10 January respectively, while Marks & Spencer will also post its festive trading update on 11 January.

Aldi said the performance “capped a remarkable year” for the group, which now has a 9.6% share of Britain’s supermarket sector according to recent Kantar data, and it pledged to cut prices further this year.

Giles Hurley, chief executive of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “As we look ahead to 2024, our promise to customers is that they will always make significant savings on every shop with Aldi because we have the lowest grocery prices in Britain.”

The group said alternative roasting joints were particularly popular, with strong sales of its Specially Selected wagyu rib joint and a 25% jump in sales of its Specially Selected crackling gammon joint, and 42 million pigs in blankets were also sold in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Lidl also claimed it saw its “best Christmas yet”, with shoppers increasingly trading up to its premium own-label products over the season, as sales across its Deluxe range jumped 11% year on year between 10 September and 24 December.

Ryan McDonnell, chief executive of Lidl’s UK operations, said: “I’m incredibly proud of our performance this Christmas in what was the busiest trading period in our history. 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 discounters have been ramping up the pressure on the so-called Big Four players in the supermarket sector this year, with shoppers increasingly looking to make savings in the face of high inflation.

The latest data from Kantar showed that Lidl was the fastest-growing grocery firm in the 12 weeks to 26 November, with its market share leaping to 7.8% from 7.4% a year ago.

Lidl said it sold a British turkey every two seconds in the week before Christmas, with 2,000 tonnes of potatoes and 1,600 tonnes of carrots also snapped up by customers.

The group said Christmas merchandise also proved popular, with jumper sales up 40% in the month to 24 December and Christmas socks becoming the best-seller in the range.