Aldi Christmas revenue tops £1bn but growth slows
German discount retailer Aldi said today that its Christmas sales increased 7.9 per cent year-on-year to break £1bn for the first time.
The supermarket chain said its sales in the four weeks ended Christmas eve were driven by strong growth in beers, wines and spirits, its premium Specially Selected range and fresh meat.
Total beers, wines and spirits sales increased 9.2 per cent year-on-year, with sales of sparkling wine up more than 14 per cent.
During the run up to Christmas, Aldi also sold 55m mince pies, 22m pigs in blankets and more than 2m Christmas puddings.
Giles Hurley, Aldi UK chief executive, said: “Although we saw strong growth across all key categories, sales of our premium Specially Selected range surpassed expectations, as customers snapped up these products for a fraction of the price they would have paid elsewhere.”
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com, said that Aldi had delivered a “disappointing trading update”, noting that its sales growth fell short of the 10 per cent in the same period last year and the 11 per cent growth across 2018.
Read more: Aldi targets London expansion as profit falls
“Like-for-like sales were said to be positive but no figure was provided – for sure almost all the growth is coming from new stores,” he said.
Aldi currently has 874 stores and is aiming to expand to 1,200 stores by 2025.
Thomas Brereton, retail Analyst at Globaldata, described Aldi’s number as “enviable”, but said that its five-to-six per cent growth in store numbers during the year meant that like-for-like growth would probably be around three per cent.
“Aldi must now face the fact that it can no longer hope to achieve the same domineering double-digit growth it has done over the past decade,” he said.
Morrisons will publish its results on Tuesday, with Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Marks & Spencer following later in the week.
Shares in the major supermarkets fell today, suggesting market gloom about their upcoming figures.
Shares in Morrisons fell 3.6 per cent today to 191p, Tesco shares were down 1.1 per cent at 252p, Sainsbury’s shares fell nearly 1.9 per cent to 224p and Marks & Spencer shares fell almost 1.9 per cent to 210p.