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Lidl has this morning reported that it attracted more than an additional 1.3 million customers in the run up to Christmas as sales increased 24.5%.
Shopper switched almost £63m in spend from other supermarkets over the festive period, close to triple the amount registered last year, the discounter said, referencing the latest Kantar data from last week.
It contributed to a 24.5% rise in till-roll sales in the four weeks of December and saw the retailer celebrate its busiest ever day of trading in 28 years on Friday 23rd December.
However, Lidl did not provide any actual revenue figures for the Christmas period.
It said its ‘Pick of the Week’ Christmas veg for 19p led to sales jumping by more than a third (37%) year on year.
Festive treats topped shopping lists, with Lidl’s ‘Deluxe’ Christmas Pudding sales increasing by 185%, while households also enjoyed almost seven million glasses of prosecco, which Lidl said was fuelled by the Negroni Sbagliato trend.
Traditional Christmas classics remained popular with 1.7m glasses of Lidl mulled wine served, and sales of its premium ‘Deluxe’ own-label cheese range increased by almost 30%.
GB CEO Ryan McDonnell said Lidl was seeing more customers coming through the door every week of the year as they switch spend from traditional rivals.
“We know they switch to us to make savings, but then they stay with us when they realise that they’re not having to compromise on quality, and this Christmas was no exception,” he added.
“Our strategy – great quality products at low prices – has remained the same since we first opened our doors over 28 years ago. But that is only because it’s as relevant now as it ever has been. It is working because we are seeing big switching gains with over £63m of spend moving to us in the four weeks to the 25th of December. We only see this momentum continuing in 2023.”
Lidl also reported an uptick in sales of Christmas decorations and lights, growing by 71% and 85% respectively. It also shifted more than 1.8 million rolls of wrapping paper.
McDonnell said: “As we head into another new year, we’re laser focused on strengthening our infrastructure across the country.
“As we continue with the expansion of our distribution centres in Belvedere and Bridgend, we’re set to open our biggest ever warehouse in Luton later this year. This doubles down on our efforts of giving more communities access to our unrivalled quality-value combination, something that’s particularly important as families continue to tighten their belts in the current climate.”
Morning update
The FTSE 100 continued its strong start to 2023, making a further 0.2% of gains this morning to 7,717.16pts.
Early risers in retial and fmcg included McBride, up 3.8% to 22p, THG, up 3.2% to 49.8p, Greencore, up 3% to 71.5p, and Just Eat Takeaway, up 2.7% to 1,907.2p.
Fallers so far included Haleon, down 0.8% to 315p, PZ Cussons, down 0.7% to 216p, and AG Barr, down 0.3% to 540.3p.
This week in the City
Markets pick up this week as the big supermarkets release Christmas trading figures.
Tomorrow kicks off with the latest monthly grocery sales figures for December from Nielsen, retail sales figures from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG, along with Barclaycard spending data.
Sainsbury’s puts out a Q3 trading update on Wednesday, joined by Tesco and M&S on Thursday.
A trading update is also due from Hilton Food Group on Thursday.
And Thursday also brings the latest US inflation figures.
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