YOUR MONEY
more business away from the UK’s ‘big four’ supermarkets. The group plans to increase the number of
Lidl outlets from 600 at present to between 1,200 and 1,500. This year it will invest some £170 million in opening stores and in installing bakeries in all its shops, rising to £220 million next year. For Ronny Gottschlich, the group’s UK mana-
‘Rather than being ashamed of shopping at Lidl or Aldi, British families will proudly boast of the bargains they’ve picked up’
ging director, this is a story of radical change in our food shopping habits. Old loyalties are fragmenting. Rather than being ashamed of shopping at Lidl or Aldi, today British families proudly boast of the bargains they’ve picked up. ‘It has been a tough few years for everyone
in Scotland but Lidl has continued to go from strength to strength,’ says Ross Millar, managing director of Lidl Scotland. ‘The fact we are now looking to extend our distribution centre and recruit over 500 permanent employees is not only a good sign for us, it’s also great news for Scotland.’ But as Lidl positions itself to grab upmarket
shoppers, Waitrose is keen to be seen as going in the opposite direction. Mark Price, the group’s MD, does not believe the retailer should be known as ‘upmarket’. For a company best known for selling artisan balsamic vinegar and organic biscuits, this may be a perception that is hard to shake off. ‘But how upmarket are we,’ asks Price, ‘now that all the brands are the same price as Tesco and hundreds are 10 per cent less?’ The twin strategy, backed by the loyalty card
– now 3.5 million holders – and free coffee and newspapers, is to combat the perception
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that Waitrose is too expensive for a family shop, while keeping it differentiated from the competition. So, Waitrose now price-matches Tesco on branded goods and has a discount own-brand line called Essentials, but it still sells an exclusive line of products. Industry figures show that, since early
2009, its sales have grown faster than the market average. One reason for this, the group believes, is the range and diversity of products on offer – 25,000 in a typical Waitrose, which, it says, is more than any of its competitors. Notwithstanding an online glitch at the end of last year, market share at Waitrose has now risen to around 4.9 per cent, up from 4.5 per cent a year ago, while Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons are all losing share. Latest Kantar Worldpanel data for the quarter to February showed Morrisons sales had slowed 2.5 per cent, with its market share slipping from 11.8 per cent to 11.3 per cent year on year. Tesco’s market share fell from 30 per cent to
29.2 per cent. Asda’s was down from 17.7 per cent to 17.3 per cent. Sainsbury’s (market share 17.1 per cent), Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl continued to outperform the wider grocery market. The Co-op, the UK’s fifth largest grocer, recorded a slight edge up in sales and holds a 6.1 per cent market share. One brake on Waitrose’s expansion north of
the border is the need to build its distribution infrastructure. And Tesco is not lying idle, with store refurbishments to retain customer loyalty and innovative expansion into other areas. But the traditional view of a titanic slug-out between four giants is changing fast.
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