Aldi fails to silence critics with ‘record’ Christmas

Discount food chain Aldi on Monday hailed its “busiest ever” Christmas as it continues to grab market share from the Big Four supermarkets.

The German grocer sold almost £1 billion worth of food and booze in December, while sales in the week ahead of Christmas “were over 10%” higher than in the same week last year.

The figures suggest hard-pressed Britons sought out bargain deals over the festive period, crucial for the nation’s grocers.

However, the numbers were questioned by the industry. Shore Capital’s veteran retail analyst Clive Black said: “Well done for having a record week, but in the bigger scheme of things it’s pretty meaningless data. It’s not unusual to have record weeks in December.”

Privately-owned Aldi does not publish same-store figures, which exclude sales from new stores, making the numbers appear better than they are. Listed rivals including Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Tesco and Marks & Spencer, all updating the market this week, will report in more detail how they did over Christmas.

Patrick O’Brien, an analyst at GlobalData Retail, said: “Some extremely selective Christmas results reporting from Aldi. It issued growth figures for just one week, but a year ago it revealed growth for all of December (up 15%).”

Sales were boosted by its premium ranges, Aldi said, as well as opening more stores. It now has 827 stores, of which 65 opened in 2018.

“Given the shift to premium, it might mean the volumes are declining. If it’s more expensive to buy Christmas puddings, you might be buying fewer Christmas puddings. We’re getting to the point where the discounters are maturing in the UK. It’s going to be harder for them to keep growing,” said PwC’s Kien Tan.

Aldi UK boss Giles Hurley said: “The standout performance was in our Specially Selected brand, where shoppers treated themselves to premium products.”