Lidl fresh aisle

Guest retailer Lidl claimed a comfortable Grocer 33 pricing win, albeit with a reduced winning margin than last time out.

At £41.40 Lidl came in £3.61 cheaper than runner-up Asda. It offered the lowest price for 25 items and was exclusively cheapest for 21 products.

Despite this clear domination, Lidl’s winning margin of 8% was significantly reduced compared with its 13.1% margin on its last appearance in June.

Its 21 exclusively cheapest products included 16 own label and fresh lines and five branded lines – the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Colman’s mustard, Diet Coke, Finish rinse aid and L’Oréal cleansing milk.

Asda offered the lowest price for seven products, with five exclusively so. These were the Chicago Town pizza, pineapple chunks, sardines, Stella Artois and wholemeal loaf.

Third-placed Morrisons came in £13.44 more expensive than Lidl and almost a tenner more expensive than Asda at £54.84. It offered the lowest price for four lines and was exclusively cheapest for the Dolmio sauce, baking potatoes and shortbread fingers.

At £55.48, Sainsbury’s was £14.08 more expensive than Lidl, a difference of 25.4%. It offered the lowest price for three lines, none of which were exclusively cheapest.

Likewise, Tesco did not have any exclusively cheapest items and only matched the lowest price for one line, the Irn-Bru, which at £1.25 was the same price across all six retailers.

Based on its shelf-edge prices, Tesco was £14.44 more expensive than Lidl at £55.84. However, after factoring in its Clubcard Prices initiative, this was reduced to £54.64. This reduced the gap to Lidl to £13.24 and would have edged it into third spot.

Waitrose was fully £26.02 more expensive than Lidl, a difference of 38.6%.