Tesco ‘set to take on Aldi and Lidl with new cut-price store chain’
BIG-FOUR SUPERMARKET Tesco is planning a chain of cut-price stores to counter the growth of discount rivals Aldi and Lidl, according to a report in The Sunday
Times newspaper. It said Britain’s biggest supermarket was understood to be developing a separate brand that would match its German competitors on price with a more limited range than in its main stores. Tesco didn’t comment on the report.
Data from research group Kantar Worldpanel last week showed sales at Tesco grew by 2.6 per cent in the last 12 weeks but all of Britain’s four biggest supermarkets had lost market share to Aldi and Lidl.
Tesco has a 28 per cent share of the British grocery market. Aldi’s sales increased by 16.2 per cent and Lidl’s by 16.3 per cent, boosting their respective market shares to 6.9 per cent and five per cent.
Tesco has tightened its hold on the nation’s food market after the competition regulator last month cleared its £3.7bn takeover of wholesaler Booker.
Tesco has more than 3,000 stores across the UK, while Londis and Budgens owner Booker is the country’s largest wholesaler.
It supplies more than 5,000 stores under the Premier, Londis, Budgens and Family Shopper brands.
Simon Polito, chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority’s inquiry group, said: “We have carefully listened to feedback from retailers and wholesalers who operate in what are highly competitive UK retail and wholesale sectors.”
The supermarket has been undergoing a turnaround in recent years under the leadership of chief executive Dave Lewis, following an accounting scandal in 2014.