Lidl has hailed its “most successful” Christmas trading period and reaffirmed plans to open up to 50 new stores this year.
The discounter said total revenues grew 10% year-on-year during the festive season, although it did not disclose a specific reporting period.
Lidl also declined to provide a like-for-like sales figure.
The grocer said performance was driven by sales of seasonal vegetables, turkeys and Prosecco, as well as its “innovative” social media campaign.
Sales of its ‘Pick of the Week’ fresh produce including carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts and potatoes surged 60% during the festive season, while turkey sales spiked 40%, driven by its Christmas advert that followed a customer visiting one of Lidl’s turkey suppliers.
Prosecco sales doubled ahead of Christmas and New Year’s Eve, while Lidl sold more than 40,000 lobsters in one day off the back of a social media campaign that dropped prices the more customers tweeted.
Lidl’s new UK boss Christian Härtnagel, who took the reins last September following the shock exit of Ronny Gottschlich, reaffirmed that he is “fully committed” to the grocer’s expansion plans for 2017.
The discounter aims to open as many as 50 stores and two distribution centres across the UK, creating thousands of new jobs.
Härtnagel said: “It’s incredibly encouraging that, during this highly competitive time, we have achieved our most successful festive trading period ever, following a year-on-year sales increase of 10%.
“Our colleagues across the business continue to do a phenomenal job as we experience unparalleled demand, and we were proud to have once again become the first supermarket to announce an increase in salaries, matching the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended rate.
“Going into 2017 we are absolutely focused on saving our customers more money than ever before, which we will be demonstrating through our brand new ‘Big on Quality, Lidl on Price’ campaign.”
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