Lobsters help Lidl to record festive sales

Budget supermarket Lidl notched up record sales over the Christmas period after a surge in lobster sales.
LidlLidl
Lidl

The German chain said sales increased 10 per cent over December, its best festive sales performance.

The group did not disclose like-for-like sales for the period, a more widely used industry measure of performance.

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Lidl said customers lapped up festive favourites, helping sales of carrots, parsnips, sprouts and potatoes rise 60 per cent.

A Twitter campaign saw the price of the supermarket’s luxury lobster drop to £2.99, resulting in 40,000 sales in one day. Turkey sales increased by 40 per cent following an advertising campaign.

Boss Christian Hartnagel said: “It’s incredibly encouraging that, during this highly competitive time, we have achieved our most successful festive trading period ever.

“We are unwaveringly committed to helping customers save as much money as possible

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“We also remain fully committed to our ongoing expansion plans, which will see the opening of up to 50 new stores next year, along with two new regional distribution centres, creating thousands of new jobs up and down the country.”

The figures come after rival Aldi posted a 15 per cent rise in sales over December.

Experts believe Britain’s biggest supermarkets are expected to have fought back strongly in the battle for Christmas shoppers as sales momentum at rivals Aldi and Lidl slows and is largely driven by new store openings.

Morrisons reported stellar results on Tuesday and Sainsbury’s also clocked better than expected numbers on Wednesday. Tesco will report on Thursday.