Aldi store

Source: Aldi

Aldi has claimed it is now more popular than Sainsbury’s

Aldi has claimed to be the UK’s third most popular supermarket, behind Tesco and Asda, based on the number of households shopping with it.

The discounter cited Kantar data suggesting more than two-thirds (66.4%) of British households now shop there, putting it ahead of Sainsbury’s.

Aldi’s market share hit double digits for the first time in the 12 weeks to 16 April, at 10.1%, up from 8.8% a year earlier. An additional 1.1 million shoppers bought groceries from it in the 52 weeks to 16 April.

Households switched over £300m in grocery spend to the discounter in the first quarter of the year, with its shoppers buying more items per visit at Aldi than at any other supermarket, according to the data. It means £1 in every £10 spent in a British supermarket goes through Aldi’s tills.

Read more: Discounters target middle-class shoppers with shift to affluent areas

“Almost 19 million shoppers are taking advantage of our brand-like quality and unbeatable prices,” said Aldi UK CEO Giles Hurley.

“People are facing difficult choices about how they spend their money and are changing the way they shop.

“Shoppers are switching from big stores with big prices to counter the effects of inflation and keep more of their money in their pockets.

“Independent analysis shows we are consistently the UK’s cheapest supermarket, and our commitment to our customers is that will always be the case.”

Lidl’s market share climbed to 7.6% in Kantar’s latest data, published this week, up from 6.6% in the same 12-week period last year. It takes the two discounters’ combined share to 17.7%, up from 15.4% a year ago.

Lidl was the fastest growing supermarket, with its sales up 25.1% year on year, just ahead of Aldi’s 25% growth.