Lidl set for ‘record-breaking’ Christmases amid 11% customer increase

Lidl GB is anticipating a “record-breaking” Christmas, after reporting an 11% uptick in customers over the past six weeks. The update comes as Lidl GB’s CEO revealed that shoppers started planning and preparing for the festive season early this year, with two mince pies selling every second since September. The discounter chief revealed Kantar data shows that shoppers switched over £685m of spending to Lidl GB over the course of the year, as shoppers look to manage their budgets. Of this, £58m was switched to the discounter from premium supermarkets Waitrose, M&S and Ocado, with more and more households being won over by Lidl’s products. Sales of Lidl’s red wines are also up 17% over the past few months, and in a recent independent blind taste test, Lidl’s £14.49 Montaudon Champagne beat high end rival Moet which can retail at almost three times the price (£43) of the discounter’s own label offering. Despite stocking up earlier, Lidl is predicting that its busiest day will be 22 December, with over two million shoppers expected to come through the doors of its stores. This would overtake its busiest day so far this year - Easter Saturday (8th April) - which saw a 13% increase in customers year-on-year. Lidl GB CEO Ryan McDonnell said: “Christmas is an exciting time to work in retail and particularly at Lidl, where our colleagues and suppliers contribute enormously to ensuring that our customers can access the best quality seasonal products. “It goes without saying that the past year has been challenging for so many people but, despite this, we can see that shoppers have been in the Christmas spirit since as early as September when the first Christmas lines went on sale. Over the past six weeks alone we’ve seen a massive surge in the number of customers coming through our doors and it’s clear that households are getting prepared well ahead of celebrations.” McDonnell added: “We’re expecting this to continue so our teams are already donning their Christmas jumpers, ready to welcome a record number of customers over the busiest trading period of the year.”