Record sales of £1.6bn Christmas present for Aldi as budget supermarket celebrates best festive season ever

Aldi celebrated its best ever festive season as sales hit £1.6bn in the run-up to Christmas.

Premium own-brand products and seasonal items helped boost the German discount supermarket chain’s sales by up to 3.4 percent in the four weeks to December 25.

But analysts noted that Aldi increased its store space by 3 to 4 percent over the year, meaning each individual store did not necessarily sell more.

And festive shopping has failed to save the High Street from a bleak 2024, latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed.

Total sales for the full 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 raid and an inflation-busting minimum wage rise will force them to raise prices, cut jobs and cut investment in stores.

But Aldi said it would buck the trend and pledged to offer better deals than its rivals.

Competitors have introduced Aldi price-matching schemes to tempt shoppers who have switched to the budget grocer.

Morrisons, which Aldi replaced 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 ahead to the new year, which for many will mean the prospect of the cost of living rising again, many families will be nervous about what 2025 holds.

“In this context, our mission remains clear: not only will we remain the UK’s lowest-priced supermarket, we will also ensure that the price gap between us and traditional full-price supermarkets is as large as ever.”

Sales of its Christmas products rose 10 percent year-over-year as price-conscious consumers flocked to the supermarket.

Aldi’s premium range is up 12 per cent compared to the same period in 2023, as shoppers treat themselves over Christmas.

Sales of locally sourced produce also soared, with a record 350,000 fresh British turkeys and 25 million pigs in blankets flying off the shelves.

However, BRC figures showed that in the so-called “golden quarter” (the last three months of the year) sales rose by just 0.4 percent.

Non-food sales fell 1.1 percent over the festive period. In a ray of hope, grocery sales rose 3.3 percent for the year and 2.1 percent in the golden quarter.

But BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “The crucial golden quarter failed to give 2024 the send-off retailers were hoping for.”