Lidl has narrowly beaten its main rival Aldi to be named the cheapest supermarket of 2020.
Consumer watchdog Which? based its ranking on tracking 45 popular branded items and comparative own label products in eight major supermarkets for at least 100 days between January and December last year.
With a total average cost of £42.67, Lidl was the cheapest. However, Aldi was only 34p behind at £43.01.
Industry data has suggested that Lidl outperformed Aldi for much of 2020. Latest Kantar figures show sales at Lidl increased by 15.2% in the final 12 weeks of 2020, with it gaining 0.2 percentage points of market share. However, Aldi’s performance remained comparatively weak with its sales increasing by only 6.3% and its market share sliding back to 7.4% despite its rapid store opening programme.
Meanwhile, the Which? study found Asda was the third-cheapest supermarket with the same basket of items costing over £5 more than the discounters at £48.71.
Waitrose remained the most expensive with the average cost of the 45 items coming in at £68.69, around 60% more than a similar shop at Lidl.
| Supermarket | Average cost of trolley (45 items) |
| Lidl | £42.67 |
| Aldi | £43.01 |
| Asda | £48.71 |
| Tesco | £53.30 |
| Morrisons | £53.61 |
| Sainsbury’s | £56.38 |
| Ocado | £66.83 |
| Waitrose | £68.69 |
Source: Which?
The pandemic caused major upheaval for supermarkets in 2020, as they adapted to supply issues caused by panic buying, staff absences in stores and further up the supply chain, and expanding online delivery services.
Neither Aldi nor Lidl offer a full delivery service, which has put them at a slight disadvantage and helped the Big Four multiples win back shoppers.
Natalie Hitchins, Head of Home Products and Services at Which?, commented: “Our analysis shows that customers do not have pay over the odds for their groceries.
“Customers looking to save money this new year and cut down on the cost of their weekly shop should consider shopping around for the best prices.”
NAM Implications:
- Just pennies in it, a recipe for a more direct Aldi/Lidl price war?
- And like-for-like store sales would add further clarification.
- Much depends on the extent to which the discounters want to maintain/grow share vs the mults…
