Consumers keep an eye on money Lidl leads discounter ranking
08.08.2024, 13:35 Listen to article
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The cheaper version, rather than the branded product, ends up in the shopping cart. Many consumers have changed their shopping habits, explains an institute. This is causing the discounters’ sales to increase overall.
Lidl remains the market leader among food discounters in Germany. The company recorded the highest sales in Germany in 2023 with 28.7 billion euros, according to figures from the Cologne-based trade research institute EHI. Aldi Süd took second place. The discounter had sales of 18.8 billion euros last year. This was followed by Netto Marken-Discount (17.1), which belongs to Edeka, Aldi Nord (14.3) and the discounter Penny (9.5), which belongs to the Rewe Group. The figures for Lidl, Aldi Süd and Aldi Nord are estimates; the data for Netto and Penny come from the companies.
According to EHI, the five leading discounters in Germany achieved total sales of 88.4 billion euros in 2023. This was 43 percent of sales in the entire German food retail sector. Lidl (+10 percent) and Netto (+8.2) recorded the largest sales increases compared to the previous year. Overall, the discounters were able to close the year with an increase of 6.9 percent.
The fact that discounters have been able to grow so strongly recently is due to consumers’ continued high level of price sensitivity and economic uncertainty. “This is reflected in a change in shopping behavior: consumers are increasingly turning to private labels and fewer manufacturer brands, are shopping more frequently at discounters and are comparing prices more intensively,” said EHI retail expert Peter Cyganek.
