Lidl sold one Christmas jumper every two seconds at festive period peak

Supermarket also revealed lamb proved a popular alternative to the traditional Christmas turkey

Lidl has revealed a jump in December sales (Steve Parsons/PA) (PA Wire)

Lidl saw sales of its Christmas jumper spike over the festive season this year, with one jumper sold every two seconds on its first day of sale.

The jump in sales helped the discount supermarket chain see record numbers as it posted a 2.6 per cent rise in UK sales over the four weeks to December 26.

This was up by 21 per cent when compared with pre-pandemic levels recorded in 2019.

The supermarket also revealed that lamb was a popular alternative to the traditional Christmas turkey in 2021, with lamb sales up by 21 per cent year-on-year and sales of the classic Christmas pudding up by 23 per cent.

More than eight million Christmas cards and a million rolls of wrapping paper were sold in the lead up to 25 December as Lidl said its customers were “clearly feeling generous”.

“Despite ongoing challenges with the pandemic, customers continued to find ways to celebrate this Christmas,” Christian Hartnagel, chief executive of Lidl in the UK, said.

“As inflation continues to rise, I want to reassure each and every one of our customers that we remain resolute in our promise of being the destination for the lowest grocery prices in the market.”

Lidl reported that it saw its “highest ever” number of shoppers visiting its UK stores in the week leading up to Christmas, with a footfall up 14 per cent on 23 December.

It said notched up £21 million of spending from customers switching away from other grocers in December.

Additional reporting by PA.