{"id":69347,"date":"2026-08-09T13:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T13:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/69347\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T13:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T13:14:16","slug":"aldi-and-lidl-should-face-same-rules-on-store-openings-as-rivals-says-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/69347\/","title":{"rendered":"Aldi and Lidl should face same rules on store openings as rivals, says watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Aldi and Lidl should be covered by the same land agreement rules as the UK&#8217;s largest supermarket chains, the UK competition watchdog has said in provisional findings.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposal would prevent the German discount brands from blocking rival supermarkets opening close to their stores.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Rules designed to stop large grocery retailers from using land agreements to make it harder for rival supermarkets to open nearby, particularly through restrictive covenants and exclusivity arrangements, were introduced in 2010.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">The restrictions currently apply to seven retailers \u2013 Asda, Co\u2011op, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury&#8217;s, Tesco and Waitrose.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">In a provisional decision, the CMA said it believes Aldi, Lidl GB and Lidl NI should also be subject to the rules.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Aldi is the UK&#8217;s fourth largest grocer, with a 10.8% share of the market, and Lidl the sixth largest with an 8.8% share, according to recent figures from Worldpanel.  <\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/0E2241B3CB6E61CC7427C540E8225B3DFE8079E8AD4BCDA739EFA5214FB16331\/subgraphmysterio\/resizefit_w960;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fsnappa.ukfinance%2F38951a3bf8d9eb99a31600c38ec56098\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" alt=\"View of a sign outside a Lidl store\" height=\"427\" width=\"640\" class=\"yf-j98iil loader\"\/><\/a> Both Lidl and Aldi have expanded rapidly across the UK in recent years (Andrew Matthews\/PA)           <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Both companies have rapidly expanded through store openings in recent years, while they have also attracted new shoppers through their discount pricing.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">The regulator said the brands were not originally included in the rules due to their more limited range of products, but said they should now be covered by the restrictions after expanding their shop estate and opening larger stores.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">The CMA has said it is seeking further views before reaching a final decision.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">Juliette Enser, executive director of competition enforcement and markets at the CMA, said: &#8220;We want everyone to have the best choice of supermarket and range of prices when buying their groceries.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">&#8220;To ensure this happens, we put rules in place to prevent big supermarket chains blocking rival stores from opening nearby \u2013 and now we propose applying those rules to Aldi and Lidl too.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">An Aldi spokesman said: &#8220;The CMA&#8217;s provisional decision does not impact our long-term growth plans across the UK.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">&#8220;We remain firmly committed to opening hundreds of new stores across the country, bringing Aldi&#8217;s unbeatable value and award-winning quality to even more customers.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">A Lidl spokesman said: &#8220;We note the CMA&#8217;s provisional decision regarding our status under the Controlled Land Order.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: none; text-align: inherit; font-variant-numeric: normal;\">&#8220;As a discounter, we have always welcomed and embraced competition within the market and our focus remains on continuing to open new stores and bringing our high-quality, lowest-priced groceries to even more communities. Any outcome will not impact our steadfast momentum and growth.&#8221;  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aldi and Lidl should be covered by the same land agreement rules as the UK&#8217;s largest supermarket chains,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21128],"tags":[21143,8789,21144,51639],"class_list":["post-69347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-aldi","tag-aldi","tag-lidl","tag-sud-nord","tag-the-competition-and-markets-authority"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}