The Guardian view on grocery wars: Lidl Britain | Editorial
British supermarkets were once an established social ecosystem: Waitrose and Marks & Spencer catered for the wealthy, Asda for the hard up, and Tesco and Sainsbury's for everyone in between. Then a foreign species disturbed it. In the early 1990s, German discount stores Lidl and Aldi arrived in Britain, catering mostly for those who couldn't afford to go anywhere else. Now they respectively make up 5.2% and 7% of the market, and are stuffed with middle-class shoppers, who shun Sainsbury's Pimm's for "Jeeves", Lidl's own brand version. On Tuesday Lidl overtook Waitrose to become Britain's seventh largest grocer. It now has plans to open 60 new UK shops a year.
The success of these budget shops can be partly explained by a decade of stagnant incomes and government austerity. The depth of the recession, and now rising food price inflation, encouraged people to hunt down the cheap deals (one survey claims Lidl beats other stores on price by some 15%). It is also down to altered social trends. When faith in the banks took a hit in 2008, loyalty to other institutions, including large superstores, did too. Shopping habits became more fragmentary: people carrying their designer handbags would also wear socks from Primark (the effect is known as "Primarni"). If you bought your avocados in Waitrose, you might also buy your milk from Morrisons or Aldi. And as more young people head online for their groceries, supermarkets are competing over a population of ageing shoppers who have the time to look around for the cheapest option.
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