Lidl reveals its sales jumped by almost a quarter over Christmas trading period

This included the supermarket chain’s “busiest-ever day of trading in 28 years” on Friday December 23 as shoppers sought to buy last-minute Christmas groceries.

Ryan McDonnell, CEO at Lidl GB, said: “Every week of the year we are seeing more customers coming through our doors, switching spend to Lidl from the traditional supermarkets.

"We know they switch to us to make savings, but then they stay with us when they realise that they’re not having to compromise on quality, and this Christmas was no exception.

“Our strategy - great quality products at low prices - has remained the same since we first opened our doors over 28 years ago. But that is only because it’s as relevant now as it ever has been. It is working because we are seeing big switching gains with over £63m of spend moving to us in the four weeks to the 25th of December. We only see this momentum continuing in 2023.”

In a statement, Lidl said: “ In a bid to get the best Christmas products without big prices, shoppers switched £62.8m spend to Lidl GB, almost triple that of Christmas 2021.”

Many people turned to the discounter to decorate their homes, with sales of Christmas lights and decorations up 85 per cent and 71 per cent respectively.

The statement added: “It was also the season for giving, with more than 1.8m rolls of wrapping paper sold, equating to more than 6,000 miles, the distance from London to the North Pole and back again.”

Mr McDonnell continued: “As we head into another new year, we’re laser focused on strengthening our infrastructure across the country. As we continue with the expansion of our distribution centres in Belvedere and Bridgend, we’re set to open our biggest ever warehouse in Luton later this year.

"This doubles down on our efforts of giving more communities access to our unrivalled quality-value combination, something that’s particularly important as families continue to tighten their belts in the current climate.”

Lidl established a base in the UK in 1994. It has grown to employ more than 28,000 employees, based in 950 stores and 13 distribution centres in England, Scotland and Wales.

Lidl is part of the Schwarz retail group, one of Europe’s largest organisations in the food retail industry. The supermarket, which has more than 360,000 staff globally and operates 12,000 stores and more than 200 warehouses and distribution centres in 31 countries.

The latest quarterly data from sector analysts at Kantar showed Lidl and fellow German discounter Aldi steadily increasing their market share against traditional UK supermarket rivals.

Last week, Aldi revealed it had delivered a record Christmas performance as sales jumped 26 per cent in December.