Lidl set for ‘record-breaking’ Christmas as shopping starts early

The German grocer said shoppers had started preparing for the festive holiday as early as September, with two mince pies selling every second since.

It reported a strong demand for its gifts and celebrations ranges.

Lidl said it expects its busiest day for the period to be December 22 with over 2m consumers set to shop in-store, overtaking its busiest day so far for the year on Easter Sunday – which saw a 13% increase in customers year-on-year.

Lidl GB chief executive Ryan McDonnell said: “Christmas is an exciting time to work in retail and particularly at Lidl, where our colleagues and suppliers contribute enormously to ensuring that our customers can access the best quality seasonal products.

“It goes without saying that the past year has been challenging for so many people but, despite this, we can see that shoppers have been in the Christmas spirit since as early as September when the first Christmas lines went on sale.

“Over the past six weeks alone we’ve seen a massive surge in the number of customers coming through our doors and it’s clear that households are getting prepared well ahead of celebrations.

“We’re expecting this to continue so our teams are already donning their Christmas jumpers, ready to welcome a record number of customers over the busiest trading period of the year.”

Lidl revealed it had launched a Christmas jumper rental service with rental app By Rotation last week, with profits being donated to the NSPCC.

Retail Gazette