Record £1.6bn Christmas gift sales for Aldi as budget supermarket celebrates its best festive season ever
Aldi hailed its best ever festive season with sales of £1.6 billion in the run-up to Christmas.
Premium own-brand products and seasonal items ensured that the German discount supermarket chain’s turnover rose by 3.4 percent in the four weeks to December 25.
But analysts noted that Aldi increased store space by 3 to 4 percent over the year, meaning not every individual store necessarily sold more.
And festive shopping has failed to save the High Street from a grim 2024, according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
Total sales for the year rose just 0.7 percent and non-food sales, which include items such as clothing and household goods, fell 1.5 percent compared to the previous year.
Retailers are bracing for more pain this year as Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tax action and an inflation-busting minimum wage increase will force them to raise prices, cut jobs and cut investment in stores.
Christmas cheer: Premium own-brand products and seasonal items helped Aldi’s sales rise 3.4% in the four weeks to December 25
But Aldi said it would buck the trend as it promised to offer better deals than its rivals.
Competitors have introduced Aldi price match programs to entice repurchasers who have switched to the budget store.
Morrisons – which replaced Aldi as the UK’s fourth largest supermarket in 2022 – started the year by expanding its price match program to 500 products.
Aldi UK chief executive Giles Hurley said: ‘As we look into the new year, which for many will bring the prospect of the cost of living rising again, many families will be nervous about what 2025 has in store.
‘Against this backdrop, our mission remains clear: not only will we remain Britain’s cheapest supermarket, but we will ensure the price gap between ourselves and traditional full-price supermarkets is as wide as ever.’
Sales of Christmas products increased by 10 percent year-on-year as price-conscious consumers switched to the supermarket.
Aldi’s premium range increased by 12 per cent compared to the same period in 2023, as shoppers treated themselves over Christmas.
Sales of locally produced goods also soared, with a record 350,000 fresh British turkeys and 25 million pigs in blankets flying off the shelves.
However, figures from BRC showed that in the so-called ‘golden quarter’ – the last three months of the year – turnover increased by only 0.4 percent.
Non-food sales fell by 1.1 percent during the holidays. In a glimmer of hope, grocery sales rose 3.3 percent over the year and 2.1 percent in the Golden Quarter.
But Helen Dickinson, chief executive of BRC, said: ‘The crucial golden quarter has not delivered the send-off to 2024 that retailers had hoped for.’
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