Aldi and Lidl destroyed competition in UK grocery over Christmas

The march of Aldi & Lidl has been the hot trend in the grocery markets around the world during the inflationary times of 2022. Christmas season is traditionally difficult for discounters that operate with narrow assortments. Recent figures from the UK illustrate how rapidly Aldi and Lidl grabbed market share last Christmas.

During the last 10 years, the combined market share of Aldi and Lidl in December have risen between 0,5%-point and 1,4%-point per year. In 2022 the market share jumped by a whopping 2,3%-point.

That rise of Aldi & Lidl has been from the traditional Big Four supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons). Their combined market share has declined steadily over the last decade. During the last year it dropped 1,8%-points.

These movements significant changes in an industry (groceries), which traditionally has seen only minor changes in the market shares. The volumes in groceries are so big that these kinds of changes inflict big changes in absolute pounds or euros. With high inflation, the changes in volumes are even more dramatic as prices rise, but sales rise significantly slower.