Aldi and Lidl enjoy record Christmas sales as shoppers seek to stretch festive budgets – business live

Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Live feed Key events 23m ago Introduction: Aldi and Lidl enjoy record Christmas sales as shoppers seek to stretch festive budgets 23m ago 03.09 EST Introduction: Aldi and Lidl enjoy record Christmas sales as shoppers seek to stretch festive budgets Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

Aldi and Lidl enjoyed record Christmas sales as shoppers turned to discount chains to stretch household budgets over the festive season amidst the cost of living crisis. Aldi said that sales topped £1.5bn for the first time in the four weeks to Christmas Eve, with sales up 8% year on year, and has pledged to cut prices to keep up the pressure on rivals.

Meanwhile, Lidl said that its deluxe product range underpinned a 12% year on year sales increase in December, as shoppers sought a “touch of luxury at lower prices”. Both chains said that Friday 22nd December, the last weekday before Christmas, proved to be a record trading day with Aldi, the UK’s fourth biggest chain, saying 2.5m customers used its stores for their full festive shop.

Last week, consumer card spending figures from Barclays showed that discount supermarket chains accounted for an all time high 15.5% grocery spending last year , up a percentage point on 2022, as consumers looked for ways to reduce the cost of their weekly shop. The agenda 9am GMT: Eurozone manufacturing report for December 9.30am GMT: UK manufacturing PMI report for December 2.45pm GMT: US manufacturing PMI report for December Explore more on these topics Business Business live Stock markets FTSE Reuse this content.