Aldi toasts record Christmas sales

Aldi UK has reported its best-ever Christmas in the UK, with more than 17 million bottles of wine, Champagne and Prosecco sold during December.

The German-based discounter said the week before Christmas (commencing 17 December) was its busiest week ever in the UK, with sales rising 10% on the same period last year. This was primarily driven by “exceptional demand” for its premium own label ranges, which helped boost overall grocery sales in December to nearly £1 billion.

It sold the equivalent to 3.2m glasses of wine, Champagne and Prosecco every day, it added.

In December, the discounter slashed the price of its own-label Veuve Monsigny Champag, which is made by champagne house Philizot et Fils, to £9.99, down from £11.49 across its UK stores, and also went head-to-head with Waitrose stocking an English sparkling wine from Denbies estate for £14.99 – four pounds less than its upmarket rival.

Aldi UK’s CEO Giles Hurley said the retailer started the New Year with “great momentum” on the back of the record Christmas period, and was already the UK’s fastest-growing supermarket with a market share of 7.6%

“This has been achieved by bringing amazing-quality groceries at the lowest prices to our customers and this remains our key focus for the year ahead,” he said.

The retailer is set to increase its number of stores to 1,200 by 2025. It currently has 827 outlets across the UK, after opening 65 new supermarkets during 2018.