The British arm of discount supermarket group Lidl said its sales rose 24.5% in the four weeks to December 25 compared to the previous year, reflecting new store openings and consumers' search for savings in a cost-of-living crisis.
Lidl GB said on Monday over 1.3 million more customers shopped at its stores in the seven days to Christmas Eve.
Citing data from market researcher Kantar, Lidl GB said shoppers switched 62.8 million pounds ($76.4 million) of spend to it from other supermarkets over the four week period - almost triple that of last year.
"We only see this momentum continuing in 2023," said chief executive Ryan McDonnell.
Christmas Sales
Lidl GB, part of Germany's Schwarz retail group, highlighted strong sales of Christmas vegetables sold for 19 pence a pack, Christmas puddings, Prosecco and cheese.
Trading from more than 950 stores, it is currently the UK's sixth biggest supermarket chain with a grocery market share of 7.2%.
Last November, Lidl GB said that revenue in the year to February 28, 2022, rose 1.5% to £7.8 billion (€8.96 billion) while pretax profit was £41.1 million (€47.2 million), up from £9.8 million (€11.25 million).
Lidl and rival discounter Aldi, Britain's sixth and fourth largest grocers by market share, were hurt during the pandemic by the lack of significant online businesses, but have drawn customers from traditional grocers as living costs have accelerated.
Overall, take-home grocery sales hit £12.8 billion (€14.54 billion) in the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day, the first time the £12 billion (€13.59 billion) mark has been breached, Kantar data showed.
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