Discounters Aldi and Lidl in UK supermarket attack

German discounters Aldi and Lidl have enjoyed three months of booming growth as more than half of British households visited at least one of the stores, according to latest industry data.

Aldi and Lidl are continuing to syphon off market share from the big names. Picture: PA

Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, saw sales slide 1 per cent as its market share fell by 0.6 per cent to 28.2 per cent, while Asda retained second position despite market share falling to 16.7 per cent, with sales down by 2.9 per cent compared with a year ago, figures from Kantar Worldpanel show.

Sales at Morrisons decreased by 1.4 per cent, taking share to 10.7 per cent, with this likely to fall further in the coming months as recently announced store closures take effect, Kantar added.

Sainsbury’s was again the only one of the big four operators to keep pace with the market as the price war helped shoppers reduce their grocery spending.

Sales at Sainsbury’s rose 0.9 per cent compared with last year in the 12 weeks to 13 September, attracting 250,000 new shoppers through its doors.

Lidl picked up by 16 per cent to reach a new market share high of 4.2 per cent, and Aldi saw sales rise 17.3 per cent to take a 5.6 per cent slice. The discounters continue to strengthen their position with 56 per cent of UK households visiting Aldi or Lidl in the past 12 weeks.