Lidl clients purchased 17 MILLION mince pies within the run-up to Christmas because the grocery store experiences bumper festive gross sales

BUDGET grocery store Lidl has posted report gross sales over the Christmas interval because it continues its enlargement throughout the UK.

About 600 tonnes of Brussels sprouts, 17 million mince pies and over 800,000 litres of Champagne and Prosecco had been snapped up by customers in December.

Gross sales rose by 16 per cent final month in comparison with the identical interval in 2016.

“Lidl UK has had a improbable 2017 and this was capped by our strongest Christmas buying and selling interval thus far,” boss Christian Hartnagel mentioned.

“Prospects got here into our shops to purchase extra of their Christmas gadgets, understanding they may discover prime quality merchandise at market-leading costs,” he added.

Researcher Kantar Worldpanel this week mentioned Lidl and rival Aldi had been the nation’s quickest rising grocery store, each rising gross sales by 16.eight per cent 12 months on 12 months.

Fraser McKevitt from Kantar Worldpanel mentioned: “In some methods Christmas is a difficult time for the discounters: they have a tendency to lose a bit market share as many consumers return to the extra conventional supermarkets seeking previous favourites.

 

“Rising to the problem, Aldi and Lidl collectively managed to draw almost a million extra households through the previous three months.”

Tesco was named the most effective main grocery store performer within the run-up to Christmas as customers splashed out an additional £1 billion throughout the sector, based on Kantar.

In the meantime, Sainsbury’s right this moment additionally mentioned it had “report” gross sales over Christmas, as its premium vary introduced in additional customers.

Kantar figures revealed that households shrugged off financial worries to spend a median £1,054 over the interval throughout the grocery retailers.

Lidl has been on a fast enlargement drive. The grocery store opened 9 shops through the festive interval, taking its complete to 693 – an increase of 43 in comparison with 2016.

Earlier this week, the German discounter mentioned it would create as much as 1,000 new jobs as a part of its plans to open 5 new London shops and a brand new warehouse in Luton.

The brand new websites – situated in Shepherd’s Bush, Walthamstow Central, South Ruislip, Hornchurch and Rosehill – will open throughout the subsequent two months, although the launch date for its new warehouse has but to be set.

In November, Lidl introduced a pay rise for its 16,000 staff – making its employees the best-paid within the grocery store trade.