Lidl has outsold Morrisons for the first time ever as the German discounter knocks the UK supermarket into sixth place.
Industry figures show Lidl made £3.05billion in sales over the 12 weeks to 19 April – compared to £3.03billion at Morrisons.
Sales at Lidl rose 8.8 per cent over the period while Morrisons’ increased just 1.1pc, according to latest data from Worldpanel by Numerator.
This once again left Morrisons and Lidl neck-and-neck on market share, with both grocers holding a 8.4 per cent slice.
This marks a new record market share for Lidl, which snapped up more than half a million additional shoppers, researchers said.
The milestone further underscores the turnaround challenge faced by Rami Baitiéh, the boss of the beleaguered Bradford-based grocer – who has been hoping to win customers over with price cuts.
Lidl is hoping to poach more customers as it this week revealed its ideal locations for new stores
Jonathan De Mello, the founder of JDM Retail, said: ‘Lidl have now surpassed Morrisons and this gap will continue to widen as Morrisons continue to flounder.’
Morrisons is ‘increasingly being outpaced by the discounter’s aggressive expansion,’ which is helping Lidl win new customers, he added. Lidl opened around 40 shops in 2025 and plans to have 50 more by the end of this year.
Morrisons is also languishing as it does not have as strong of a ‘non-food’ offering, while Aldi and Lidl are famous for their ‘middle aisles’ full of homeware, gardening tools and clothes, he said.
Aldi already elbowed Morrisons out of the top four in 2022.
Morrisons was saddled with huge borrowings after it was acquired by US buyout group Clayton, Dubilier and Rice (CD&R) in 2021.
Britain’s two largest grocers, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, saw spending rise by 4.3 per cent and 4.5 per cent, while sales at Aldi rose 1.2 per cent.
But the country’s other private-equity owned supermarket, Asda, continued to struggle as sales fell 2.4 per cent.
Retail expert Nick Bubb said he believes that Lidl ‘would have overtaken Morrisons in market share some time ago had Morrisons’ market share not got a temporary boost from the problems of Asda.’
He added: ‘Now that Asda is stabilising, the pressure is on Morrisons again and Lidl are likely to pull well ahead.
‘Lidl has achieved a happy combination of good sales growth, in contrast to Aldi, and strong new store opening growth and in terms of the latter there will be no let-up, given the ambitious new store programme that has just been unveiled.’
Lidl yesterday set out a wish list for new locations, including middle class areas from Notting Hill to Harrogate, as it hopes to poach more customers from traditional major supermarkets.
Researchers also said the impact of the war in Iran has ‘not yet’ trickled down to the prices paid by British shoppers – amid fears that prices are set to surge later this year.
Grocery prices are still 3.8 per cent higher than last April, but this is down from last month’s 4.3 per cent, Worldpanel said.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, said: ‘Concerns about the impact of the Middle East conflict on prices of everyday goods are front of mind for British households.
‘Already feeling the squeeze at the petrol pump, shoppers are responding by turning to special offers in growing numbers when buying groceries.’
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