Aldi and Lidl are celebrating their “best-ever” festive sales over the 2025 Christmas period, as a combination of demand for premium ranges and a focus on value pushed their respective turnover to over £1bn.

Lidl GB welcomed almost 51 million customers during the four weeks to 24 December, almost 4 million more than the same period last year, marking an 8% rise.

The retailer also exceeded £1.1bn in turnover during the four weeks to 24 December, following the £1bn turnover achieved the same period a year prior. Sales increased by 10% overall year-on-year, a 3% rise from last year.

Monday 22 December was Lidl’s busiest trading day of the season, with Tuesday 23 December seeing the highest footfall in store.

Lidl credits this success to its “sustained investment” in lower prices on festive favourite foods, ‘We Won’t Be Beaten on Price’ commitment and offer of a Christmas dinner for eight for £1.24 per person. Across 2025, the retailer claims to have invested £300m in keeping prices low, with prices dropped on more than 1,000 everyday products between January and October 2025.

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Bestsellers included Valley Spire Cheese Truckles and the Deluxe hand cooked crisps, as well as British vegetables as part of the discounter’s festive ‘Pick of the Week’ promotion. Over 110,000 tonnes of seasonal veg were bought in the week leading up to Christmas Eve.

This is a 70% year-on-year increase, including an almost 40% uplift on easy-peeler clementines alone.

Products were also bought earlier, with more than 30 million mince pies sold at Lidl from September onwards. Wooden toy sales also grew by almost a quarter compared to last year, while shoppers bought over 9 million Christmas cards.

The refreshed Deluxe party food range delivered triple-digit growth, with the cheesecake and tiramisu panettone selling out on the first day of sale.

Loyalty app Lidl Plus also drove growth, with active users rising 28% in November and redemptions up 43% compared to the year prior. The brand’s discount focused Advent Calendar campaign in December also saw an increase of over 400% in redemptions compared to the previous year.

Last October, Lidl claimed it had benefitted from £400m in direct switching from competitors and a £500m growth in customer loyalty, with its app having 11 million users and a new integrated payment feature.

On Lidl’s success, GB CEO Ryan McDonnell said the business remains “the retailer that delivers the highest quality at the best price”.

Focus on value for 2026

Named the UK’s Cheapest Supermarket by consumer champion Which? for the past four years, Aldi also enjoyed its “best-ever Christmas”, notching up sales of £1.65bn in the four weeks to Christmas Eve across 57 million transactions. This marks a 3% rise in sales compared to the same period last year.

In the week leading up to Christmas, the retailer saw total sales increase by more than 5%, with over £500m spent. Like Lidl, 22 December was its busiest trading day.

Ahead of Christmas, Aldi committed to “beating rivals on the price of a traditional Christmas dinner”, as part of a year-long £325m investment to lower prices.

Demand for the retailer’s Specially Selected premium own-label range also increased by over 12%, with popular products in the range including pigs in blankets and wagyu fat roast potatoes. The discounter also sold over 5.5 million bottles of sparkling wine over the festive period.

Aldi similarly saw demand for home-grown produce. Shoppers bought 56 million potatoes, 37 million carrots and half a million turkeys supplied from British companies.

Last year, Aldi generated £1.6bn in turnover and – following a similar pattern – sales of the premium Specially Selected range jumped by 12% versus the same period in 2023.

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On Aldi’s success, UK and Ireland CEO Giles Hurley said the discounter “delivered a Christmas without compromise, offering customers award-winning British products at unbeatable prices”.

“As we move into 2026, our focus remains unchanged – keeping prices low and quality high, so that every household in Britain can enjoy amazing food all year round,” he added.

With data from the other supermarkets set for release later this week, Worldpanel by Numerator figures published for the month to 30 November estimate overall grocery sales will exceed £13.6bn in December 2025.

This momentum, anchored on prioritising value, looks set to carry into 2026. Morrisons is kicking off the year by cutting prices on over 2,500 prices as of today (5 January).

Pricing and customer director Alex Paver said the move means “customers can trust they’re getting real value” when shopping with the retailer.

Prices have been slashed on fresh fruit and vegetables, cleaning essentials, meat, fish, and everyday staples, including Kellogg’s and Nestlé cereals and Birds Eye products, as well as brands such as Fairy, Pampers and Andrex. The cuts will be “clearly highlighted” in-store and online.

Tesco is also pushing price promotions with the launch today (5 January) of Everyday Low Prices on more than 3,000 branded products, including Weetabix, Fairy Original Liquid, Heinz Baked Beans and PG Tips teabags. This means up to three times more brands have been added to the scheme.

The extension of the Everyday Low Prices push is in addition to Tesco’s existing Aldi Price Match on more than 650 lines and more than 10,000 Clubcard Prices for loyalty members.

The retailer is also bringing back its blue and white striped branding symbolising value, which will be “front and centre” of a price-focused marketing campaign. This visual identity was initially dropped in 2012.