Channel 4 Dispatches – Supermarket Wars

Watched dispatches Supermarket Wars tonight. It was interesting to see how the Big Four supermarket sales are stagnating or decreasing while they are growing by 23% for Lidl and 39% at Aldi.

While the discount stores aren’t pretty, one of the reasons they can keep their prices low is that they don’t offer the variety as do larger supermarkets.

On average supermarkets stock 30,000 different products while discounters stock 1,000+ items. So less products, mean less storage, people needed and costs.

One lady said she would have spent £100 at Sainsbury’s but instead she got her shop for £53.

However, the discounters are not only for the cash strapped, but are also offering a small range of “posh nosh” which helps to change middle-class consumers’ perceptions. I wrote last week about the riding gear special …