The discount German supermarket saw an 11% year-on-year increase in sales in the four weeks to 29 December 2019.

It had its busiest ever trading day on 23 December and poached shoppers from rivals, including Aldi, ringing in an extra £110m to its tills.

Lidl’s wine sector was the biggest winner, as sales increased 20% in the year. Overall, beers, winner and spirits experienced record growth of 13% in the same period.

Shoppers also flocked to Lidl for cheese, consuming over 1,000 tonnes from its festive range, pushing growth up 55%.

The discounter also bucked the trend for the general merchandise sector sales, with its popular ‘Middle of Lidl’ items recording an overall sales increase of 9%.

Christian Härtnagel, Lidl GB CEO, said: “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.”

The group has near 800 stores in the UK and has a c.6% UK market share.

Supermarket Christmas sales

Yesterday, Tesco results revealed a 0.1% increase in like-for-like UK sales in Christmas spending, it posted a 0.2% fall in like-for-like sales in the 19 weeks to 4 January 2020.

Sainsbury’s also posted a slight decline in sales over the festive period. The group, which also owns Argos, said total retail sales excluding fuel fell by 0.7% in the 15 weeks to 4 January. While grocery sales grew 0.4% and clothing sales were up by 4.4%, general merchandise sales declined by 3.9%.

The UK’s fourth largest supermarket – Morrisons – reported a 1.7% fall in like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, during the 22 weeks to 5 January.

Lidl’s closest rival, Aldi, also had a bumper Christmas with sales in the four weeks to 24 December topping £1bn for the first time.