Lidl GB has been named the cheapest supermarket by a weekly league table published by the Grocer magazine. The discounter beat the nearest rival Asda by almost £4 (£3.85 or 7.8%) with a full basket costing just £45.42.
Lidl offered the lowest price on 20 items on the list, including humous (£0.76p), apples (£1.15), potatoes (£0.65), butternut squash (£0.95), chicken breast fillets (£4.99), feta cheese (£0.95), Linda McCartney’s veggie sausages (£1.39) and olive oil (£2.89). An equivalent basket at Waitrose, the most expensive of the supermarkets included in the rankings, would set a customer back £66.74, costing over £20 more than at Lidl. The full league table was:
1. Lidl - £45.42
2. Asda - £49.27
3. Sainsbury’s - £51.75
4. Tesco - £55.00
5. Morrisons - £55.35
6. Waitrose - £66.74
The Grocer 33 is a weekly price comparison survey which looks at the cost of 33 staple items at mainstream supermarkets. This week, the survey included Lidl as a guest retailer, showing the price gap between the discounter and other brands.
The news comes as Lidl celebrates the 25th anniversary of opening its first stores in the UK in 1994. The discounter has since grown to employ more than 22,500 people nationwide in 760 stores and 13 warehouses across the country.
Christian Härtnagel, Lidl UK CEO, said, “For the past 25 years, our high quality products at unbeatable prices have been drawing in new customers across all corners of Britain. We're finding that more and more shoppers are switching to us, from the other supermarkets, and our ambitious expansion programme will continue to bring our unique offering to new communities across the country.”