Lidl is intent on doubling the number of its outlets in the UK to as many as 1,500 over the coming decade.
It announced an investment of £20m for a marketing campaign it is calling LidlSurprises, the first national marketing initiative it has undertaken in Britain.
The German discounter is riding on a high after proclaiming that it expects to grow by 20% this year to more than £4bn. Of this amount, £1.75bn will derive from British goods, such as whisky and cheese.
Lidl and Aldi continue to gain market share, at the expense of the “big four” supermarkets which have responded by cutting prices.
Grocery sales in Britain went up only 0.8% in the last three months, so the traditional outlets, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrison, have felt the discounters’ pinch. Sainsbury’s sales dropped 2.2%, and Tesco’s by 3.8% in the last month.
Morrison recorded a rise of 2.4% in that time, although this followed a fall of 3.8% the month before. Morrison has been desperately reducing prices to attract customers back.
Asda, too, had a growth spurt of 2.5% last month.
But the clear winners were Aldi (29.5% increase) and Lidl (18.3%)
Aldi’s share of the market is now 4.8%, just behind Waitrose, which is also expanding sales. Lidl’s market share went from 3.1% last year to 3.6%.
