Lidl > Waitrose -All your Shopper are belong to us

[Zak33]

Lidl becomes the seventh largest supermarket, pushing Waitrose down one

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41011259

Tesco (27.8%)
Sainsbury's (15.8%)
Asda (15.3%)
Morrisons (10.4%)
Aldi (7%)
Co-op (6.3%)
Lidl (5.2%)
Waitrose (5.1%)
Iceland (2.1%)
Ocado (1.4%)

Watch out Waitrose... that german beach towel on your deck chair was a real thing!!!

[Jonatron]

Since the local Lidl added self checkouts, I've been going regularly.

Other reasons why:
Cheap
No stupid fake 'offers' like in other supermarkets.
A sensible range of products. Eg: 2 types of toothpaste rather than 50.
Staff aren't shelf stacking, right in the way of everyone

No waitrose near me because I live in the ghetto

[Ttaskmaster]

Size isn't everything... We have more Aldis round here anyway, I believe, yet we still shop at Waitrose whenever we can.

[TheAnimus]

No waitrose near me because I live in the ghetto

I've 4 within a 5 minute drive, 2 of which are within a 10 minute walk.

I live in the boring bit of North London.

[Jonatron]

I've 4 within a 5 minute drive, 2 of which are within a 10 minute walk.

I live in the boring bit of North London.

Last time I went to Sainsbury's, I saw a man getting dragged into the back room after being caught trying to steal something.

I live in an 'interesting' bit of East London.

[malfunction]

I live in the boring bit of North London.

It's grim up North London eh?

(returns to lurking)

[Saracen]

Since the local Lidl added self checkouts, I've been going regularly.

Other reasons why:
Cheap
No stupid fake 'offers' like in other supermarkets.
A sensible range of products. Eg: 2 types of toothpaste rather than 50.
Staff aren't shelf stacking, right in the way of everyone

No waitrose near me because I live in the ghetto

I've not noticed "stupid fake" deals in Waitrose.

Also "cheap" is relative. Waitrose price-match on thousands of branded products, and on their own brand, then it's hard compare because it's also about quality.

For instance, if you want "cheap" sausages, then you risk getting as little as 35% meat, and then there's exactly what meat? Prime cuts, or "mechanically reclaimed" (I.e.. scraps scraped off bone) or brain, or offal etc.

Ditto, bacon, chicken breast products, etc.

So re:"cheap", bear in mind you get what you pay for a lot of the time.


Oh, and self serve checkouts? I detest the horrible things, and these days, refuse point blank to use them. The ONLY thing I like about them is that those that use them reduce demand for proper checkouts. Thanks.

[Zak33]

I use Aldi for weekly, and Waitrose or Ocado once per month for the bulky non food stuff, according to which is cheapest online.

Heavy stuff I mean, large washing powder boxes, masses of bog roll, al the branded deodrants that we use.(although Aldi last week had mountains of Dove deodrant, first time ever)

Either way... Lidl are squeezing hard from below, like those two types of toothpaste!

Tesco in my home town is... empty most mornings where Aldi is packed!
so they're feeling it.

[Jonatron]

I've not noticed "stupid fake" deals in Waitrose.

Also "cheap" is relative. Waitrose price-match on thousands of branded products, and on their own brand, then it's hard compare because it's also about quality.

For instance, if you want "cheap" sausages, then you risk getting as little as 35% meat, and then there's exactly what meat? Prime cuts, or "mechanically reclaimed" (I.e.. scraps scraped off bone) or brain, or offal etc.

Ditto, bacon, chicken breast products, etc.

So re:"cheap", bear in mind you get what you pay for a lot of the time.


Oh, and self serve checkouts? I detest the horrible things, and these days, refuse point blank to use them. The ONLY thing I like about them is that those that use them reduce demand for proper checkouts. Thanks.

True that it's hard to compare on own brand products, but Lidl is mostly own brand. I noticed a stupid fake deal in Waitrose at the weekend. Dishwasher tablets reduced from £20 to £10. I usually buy 40 for £3.19 from Lidl, own brand but they do the job just as well.

Like other supermarkets, there are both low meat content cheap sausages and more expensive high meat content sausages at Lidl.

Funny you mention bacon, Waitrose and maybe Coop seems to be the only supermarkets that haven't lowered the quality of even the premium bacon. It annoys me, I refuse to buy watery bacon.

I also detest the horrible self serve checkouts. The problem was I didn't enjoy queuing for ten minutes at the proper checkouts.

[GoNz0]

We went to waitrose on Sunday, what a load of nearly rotten crap they had in the fresh section, overpriced if you ask me as the quality is shocking. On top of that the old biddies buying something for 50p to get a cheap coffee and even worst are the people with heads rammed firmly up their arse making staff jump through hoops.
Never again.

[Ferral]

Its quite funny really, there used to be a Waitrose in Durham City Center and it was always empty (students & hipsters seemed their main custom at the time), going back about 8-10 years with this. Needless to say it shut down, when you look on a map for Waitrose store locations there are loads from Midlands downover then 3 in my area (North East) which are all located round Newcastle City Center one of which is a small food only express type store, then there are a few in Scotland. There are more Marks & Spencer stores and a few food onlly of theirs also which is pretty good, their quality is decent on fresh meat but it can be a bit pricey.

We do most of our shopping in Morrisons or Sainsbury's even though there is a Tesco closer, we feel that the quality at Tesco can be quite poor at times

[SUMMONER]

Meh... to Lidl. They mucked up my favourite ready to eat mini veggie pizzas from their bakery section when they changed supplier/recipe. The only thing I still buy there nowadays are pickled gherkins (you British lot don't know how to make proper tasty pickled gherkins!) and Nürnberger Sausages.

Waitrose can be pretty cheap if they want to. I bought a stack of Green and Black's 500ml ice cream tubs there 2 weeks ago. They were reduced to £2.50 and then another 50p off via the Waitrose Pick Your Own Offers app. Their large bags of Mange Tout/Sugar Snap Peas were 2 for £3.00 and then 60p off via the app, which made them cheaper by weight than ALDI.

Waitrose are the only British supermarket I have been to that sell radishes that actually taste like what they are supposed to, oh so slightly spicy.

Also their stonebaked sourdough baguettes and pre-sliced Polish sourdough bread, which is stupidly expensive, are to die for.

[stevie lee]

the ALDI near me is one of the biggest in the UK, went in once it felt like a drab dreary place. never going back again
they are also opening another one close by, on a trading estate. a trading estate whose current business have been there 30+ years and who don't want to move.
the site owner didn't want to renovate or update so decided to just close the whole thing forcing many small business to close/relocate at great expense.

so ALDI are on my poop list.


I mainly got to Lidl, sister likes the tea and chicken kievs. they have some very nice ice cream too.
also buy stuff from approvedfood. the BBE date is only a guideline, it doesn't instantly go off at midnight on that date, theres a few weeks/months leeway.


waitrose lasted 6 months before shutting. once went in and I was the only customer in the whole store, bought a pint of milk and left.

mum n dad go to morrisons, sainsburys, lidl, Tesco. whatevers closest to other shops they want.

as long as its cheap they buy it.

[Spreadie]

Waitrose - two for the price of three

Tesco is our nearest, and most frequented, although I'd prefer Lidl if we had one nearby. Morrisons meat is rubbish, so we tend to avoid shopping there. Asda opened their first store on the island yesterday - not been yet, but we preferred Asda to Tesco when we lived up north. It's no closer to us than Lidl though.

Sainsburys used to be OK - always a little more expensive but usually better quality. Now the quality has dropped and they're still more expensive.

[Saracen]

Its quite funny really, there used to be a Waitrose in Durham City Center and it was always empty (students & hipsters seemed their main custom at the time), going back about 8-10 years with this. Needless to say it shut down, when you look on a map for Waitrose store locations there are loads from Midlands downover then 3 in my area (North East) which are all located round Newcastle City Center one of which is a small food only express type store, then there are a few in Scotland. There are more Marks & Spencer stores and a few food onlly of theirs also which is pretty good, their quality is decent on fresh meat but it can be a bit pricey.

We do most of our shopping in Morrisons or Sainsbury's even though there is a Tesco closer, we feel that the quality at Tesco can be quite poor at times

Waitrose are primarily a London and SE store, in that historically, that's where the bulk of the stores are. The last 10-15 years have seen a fairly aggressive expansion program, heading northwards. They're still primarily London, South, South East and East Anglia and the further north you go, the lower the store density gets.

There is a problem, however. If you are going to open stores in a new area, you need to have the support and distribution infrastructute in place, i.e. warehousing, trwnsport fleets, etc. That takes time and is extremely expensive, and is hard to justify without the necessary number of stores to support it.

The expansion north therefore is something of a chicken and egg problem.

[Saracen]

We went to waitrose on Sunday, what a load of nearly rotten crap they had in the fresh section, overpriced if you ask me as the quality is shocking. On top of that the old biddies buying something for 50p to get a cheap coffee and even worst are the people with heads rammed firmly up their arse making staff jump through hoops.
Never again.

That, I find surprising. In one of my zero-hour contract roles, I've been into a LOT of supermarkets verifying the accuracy of scales, often but not always as part of an IT refit. All retailers selling goods by weight have, by law, to be using scales independently verified by staff certified by Trading Standars, and part of my test regime, on many jobs, is random selection of items to scan, and weigh. Mostly, that means fresh produce for the weighing bit.

Based on a number of years in and out of most supermarkets .... well, put it this way, what fresh produce I buy that isn't from a farm shop or a very small local grocer IS from Waitrose. I haven't been in all Waitrose branches but I'd bet, overr the years, I've been in about 80%, and what you said there very much surprises me.