Blog
Aldi’s explosive growth - can it break through?
10th September 2008
“Don’t change your lifestyle, change your supermarket”
Food market share
Tesco: 31.6% Asda: 17% Sainsbury’s: 15.8% Morrisons: 11.1% Somerfield: 3.7% Waitrose: 3.8% Aldi: 3.0% Lidl: 2.4% Iceland: 1.7% Netto: 0.7%
% sales of total grocers in 12 weeks to 12 August 2008
That is the Aldi strap-line as it seeks to change the shopping habits of price conscious consumers across the UK. The dramatic sales growth from the deep-discount food retailers is one of the big stories of 2008 and German-owned Aldi is planning to add one new store a week to its portfolio in a significant bid at organic growth and rising market share. The Telegrpah provides this analysis of the rise of the Aldi chain and how their retail model is radically different from the 24-hour, sell it all mentally of the likes of Tesco. Is the apparent shift from status to value a product of the times in which we live? or evidence of a longer-lasting change in consumer preferences. I have never set foot in an Aldi or a Lidl store, it might not be long before I do!
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.