Busiest ever day for Lidl

LIDL celebrated a record breaking Christmas as it lured more than 1m shoppers away from rivals and clocked up its busiest ever day in Britain.

The German discount chain picked up 1.3m shoppers from the likes of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons in the four weeks to December 25.

Sales jumped 24.5pc from a year earlier and Lidl said it took £62.8m of spending from the traditional grocers.

The huge jump in demand saw Lidl enjoy its busiest day – December 23 – since opening its doors in the UK 28 years ago.

Boss Ryan McDonnell said ‘every week’ more shoppers flock through its doors.

The 46-year-old said shoppers are switching to cut the cost of a weekly shop as households face soaring food, energy and mortgage bills. McDonnell said: ‘We only see this momentum continuing in 2023.’

Lidl followed German rival Aldi, which posted its best ever December with sales in the month topping £1.4bn for the first time, a 26pc jump from a year earlier.

Both discounters have seen an influx of customers since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy bills skyrocketing.

Their combined market share has surged from 14pc a year ago to 16.3pc today, behind only the UK’s biggest grocer Tesco which controls 27.5pc of the market.