Aldi and Lidl are set to face a new rival as another European discounted supermarket will be launching in the UK in early summer.
Online retailer Motatos has confirmed UK shoppers only have a few weeks left to wait, as they will officially launch in June.
Their announcement comes as major supermarkets across the country have been offering lower prices in a bid to attract customers amidst the cost of living crisis.
It currently unknown what products will be sold, but they do sell surplus food from wholesalers at discounted prices. The Grocery Gazette has revealed that they will be one of the few online surplus stock supermarkets in the UK. They have promised consumers “well-known products that would otherwise risk ending up in landfill”.
The Manchester Evening News reports that the retailer - which originated in Sweden - already has established partnerships with several distributors including Wholegood and Pricecheck ahead of its UK launch.
The supermarket is known as Matsmart across Europe and was first established in 2014 in Sweden.
The company now has stores in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany, where it sells large pack goods, drinks, snacks, household, pets and beauty products. Deliveries are made by third party logistics companies, typically taking between one and three working days, with the cost of shipping depending on the size of orders.
UK country manager Christabel Biella told The Grocer: “UK shoppers are incredibly passionate about sustainability but they need easy and cost-effective ways to make sustainable choices that often come with a hefty price tag. That is why I’m so excited to join Motatos, especially at this point in its development following incredible success in other European markets.”
News of another discount supermarket in the UK comes after Russian supermarket chain Mere - known as the "Russian Lidl" - announced it was closing its first UK store following the invasion of Ukraine. The discounter has also reportedly paused plans to open more shops.
The retailer, which trades as Svetofor in Russia, branded itself as being cheaper than any other store - and said its products cost 30% less than Aldi and Lidl. It opened its first UK store in Preston in August 2021 but hasn't opened any more branches since.
Mere had planned several more UK store openings by this spring and wanted to open 300 stores here eventually - including two in Wales, in Mold and Caldicot, and another in Castleford in the north of England. The business had even teased more store openings in January this year, saying it would bring “a much better and improved offer for our customers than at the beginning”.
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