British retailers’ new efforts to help shoppers

Aldi, Co-op, Lidl, and Morrisons have announced cost-saving initiatives, including price cuts on everyday items like fresh produce, to help struggling households this winter as new research from New Covent Garden Market reveals British consumers are eating more vegetables at Christmas. 

Slashing prices with festive produce

Aldi and Lidl are slashing prices of traditional festive vegetables to help shoppers budget for their Christmas food shopping. Co-op, meanwhile, is injecting £1bn across a range of measures, including its biggest-ever number of price reductions, to support customers, businesses, and local high streets over the next 12 months, alongside continued investment into sourcing British produce. Similarly, Morrisons has pledged price cuts on over 800 essential items, alongside special offers for seniors in its cafés, free children's meals, and school holiday breakfast clubs in a bid to help shoppers’ money go further.

A shift in Christmas shopping habits

The announcements come as some 60% of UK households saw their spending power fall for the fourth month in a row in October, according to Asda’s latest Income Tracker, demonstrating how low and middle-income families remain under financial pressure. Further pressures may emerge as the festive season approaches and following the Budget, warns the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), one of the UK's leading economics consultancies. With Christmas around the corner, new research shared by Aldi shows that shoppers are taking a more considered approach to their festive shop in 2025.  

Earlier shopping for festive days

Nearly a third (30%) of 2,000 people surveyed by OnePoll are planning to shop earlier than usual to help spread the cost, with one in five (21%) preparing elements of their festive meals ahead of time to make the big day feel less pressured. Nearly a quarter (23%) are adopting a ‘less is more’ attitude, streamlining the variety of products in their baskets. However, more than half of Brits (52%) are planning to pick up premium items to fill their baskets. For more information on British retailer's iniciatives to make budget shopping easier, you can write here.