Reports have suggested that shoppers have moved from Lidl to Aldi as the chain supermarket has been experiencing stock and delivery issues in recent weeks. Data from Kantar shows an £8.1 million spend switch between the two supermarkets in the 12 weeks leading to September 4.
The Grocer reported that Lidl potentially suffered as a result of poor availability as its Twitter team was regularly tweeting responses to complaints from shoppers expressing frustration over empty shelves. The Lidl account also tweeted that it was “experiencing some issues in our distribution centres' when there were several complaints about two stores, in particular, Banbury and Hamworthy reports Birmingham Live.
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The same report highlights that Tesco lost the most to Kantar in the past 12 weeks with £63.6 million worth of spending switched to the budget supermarket. This is despite a huge campaign by Tesco to price match, Aldi. Morrisons also lost out to the supermarket with £42.6 million.
Inflation has also been impacting supermarkets in warehouses in terms of staff pay and retention, reports suggest. Aldi responded in August by giving hourly paid warehouse workers their second pay rise of the year, boosting their January 2022 rate by up to 9%.
A Lidl spokeswoman told the Grocer: “As the UK’s fastest growing supermarket we are welcoming more customers through our doors than ever before. We have an unwavering commitment to provide our customers with the best products at the best prices. That is why we continue to see shoppers switching to Lidl, and it’s why we remain laser-focused on opening new stores across the country to meet this increased customer demand.
“This is particularly important in areas where households don’t already have access to good quality food at affordable prices.”
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