New figures have shown that Lidl is now the seventh biggest supermarket in the UK, beating Waitrose.
Research from Kantar Worldpanel has shown market shares in the discount supermarket to increase in the 12 weeks to August 14 by a record 5.2 percent.
Fraser McKevitt, the head of retailer and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “Lidl is growing sales 40pc faster with families than with households without children,”
“Families tend to buy more items each time they shop, so strong growth with this demographic has helped Lidl to increase its average basket size year on year,” he added.
“Ten million households visited (Lidl’s) expanding network of stores during the past 12 weeks, with alcohol and fresh produce performing particularly well,”
The first UK Lidl opened in 1994. There are now over 650 stores in Britain after an ambitious expansion programme.
Whilst the big four supermarkets – Tesco (LON:TSCO), Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY), Asda and Morrisons (LON:MRW) – also saw a growth in sales, their general hold on the market is slowing.
“This welcome period of sustained growth has not been enough to entirely offset pressure from the discounters. The big four now account for just 69.3pc of the UK grocery market – down from 76.3pc five years ago – and that looks set to fall further in the coming months.” said McKevitt.
Aldi, which is currently the fifth biggest UK chain, also saw a growth in sales. The German discounter jumped 17.2 percent.
“Just a decade ago Aldi was the UK’s 10th largest food retailer, accounting for less than 2% of the grocery market. Since then the grocer has grown rapidly, climbing the rankings by an impressive five places.” said McKevitt.
Aldi chief executive of Aldi UK and Ireland, said earlier this year on their growth: “Aldi customers get products of comparable quality to the leading brands at prices that are significantly cheaper than any of our competitors. This unique offering is resonating with British shoppers and we are opening 70 new stores this year to help keep up with customer demand.”
Shares in Tesco were up 2.7 percent this morning. Morrisons saw an increase of 0.8 percent, while Sainsbury’s was down by 0.7 percent.