Lidl has made it 10 months in a row as the UK’s fastest-growing bricks & mortar supermarket, while Aldi’s sales growth has slowed to a near flatline.
Lidl’s sales were up 8.1% year on year in the 12 weeks to 9 June, according to new Kantar data published this morning. Its market share was also 8.1%, up from 7.7% a year earlier.
Aldi’s sales, meanwhile were up by just 0.8%, while its market share was down slightly, from 10.2% to 10%.
It is the fourth month in a row in which Aldi’s performance has been behind the market, which saw total year-on-year sales growth of 2.4%. It comes in stark contrast to September 2023, when Aldi’s sales were flying, up 17.1% year on year, and shows a continuation of the pattern of shrinking growth that has developed since.
The differing fortunes of the two discounters have been attributed to Lidl’s sales benefiting from its loyalty app and bakeries, neither of which Aldi has. Experts have also pointed to the volume of price-matching schemes targeting Aldi, in each of the traditional big four full-line supermarkets as of this year. Lidl, meanwhile, is only named in Asda and Morrisons’ price matching schemes.
Commenting on the Kantar data in a post on LinkedIn, IGD senior insight analyst Dan Butler said: “There are now five UK retailers [including Gopuff] price matching to Aldi, and this will be hurting its value perception.
“Loyalty schemes are a key mechanism for conveying value to shoppers and Aldi not having one is also impacting its value perception.”
As reported by The Grocer, Lidl recently overhauled its loyalty app – called Lidl Plus – with the addition of new, exclusive discounts for all members.
“Moving its bakery section to the front of store has been an inspired decision by Lidl, which has seen it become the market leader for the category,” added Butler. “Its positioning encourages impulse purchase, and it has regular promotions and limited-edition products.”
Kantar’s latest data has Ocado as the fastest-growing major grocer overall, for the fourth month in a row, with sales up 10.7% year on year.
Asda suffered a 4% slump in sales, the poorest performance of any of the major supermarkets, with its market share slipping from 13.7% to 12.8% year on year.
No comments yet