Cork blimey! Christmas champagne outsells semi-skimmed milk at Lidl
Shoppers at budget supermarket chain Lidl bought more champagne than semi-skimmed milk this Christmas, the retailer has revealed.
Figures show that savvy customers snapped up so many bottles of Lidl’s £11.99 Comte De Senneval champagne that it knocked the store’s usual bestseller, semi-skimmed milk, off the top spot for the festive season. The champagne has won high praise from food and drink experts.
Strong sales of other luxury products helped Lidl to its most successful Christmas period to date, with like-for-like sales increasing by more than 20 per cent.
The budget store has been nipping at the heels of major retailers like Tesco, which has seen its market share dip by 1.3 percentage points over the last two years following a spate of profit warnings. Lidl’s share has risen by one percentage point since 2013, according to Kantar Worldpanel. It follows a number of newcomers disrupting the retail market, with upmarket chain Waitrose also increasing its market share.
Waitrose is part of the John Lewis partnership, which also saw a healthy Christmas sales period. For the five weeks to 27 December total sales were £777m, up 5.8 per cent compared to the previous year. Black Friday provided a welcome boost to the department store chain, helping John Lewis to its biggest sales week in 150 years, up 22 per cent on 2013.
Gifts that proved popular this year included fitness trackers, kitchen gadgets and luxury items such as cashmere jumpers and beauty products, the retailer said.