![\"Lidl](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01KHDJT73MP5XNB2X6DC2DW3MD.jpg\")
\t\tAsda and Morrisons lost market share in recent years (Andrew Matthews\/PA Wire)\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tThursday 13 August 2026 10:09 am\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\tAsda and Morrisons lost market share in recent years (Andrew Matthews\/PA Wire)\t<\/p>\n
German discounters Aldi and Lidl have rapidly taken control of the UK\u2019s budget grocery market in recent years. But could new curbs on \u2018land blocking\u2019 slow their insurgency?<\/p>\n
Only a few decades ago, Lidl and Aldi were oddities. By 2008, the German discount supermarkets had been in the UK for more than 10 years but had failed to make much of an impression. Their sparse stores, wooden pallet shelving and unbranded, rarely fresh produce puzzled British shoppers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2026, and the two grocers are firm favourites in the UK. They each operate at more than 1,000 stores across the nation and have forced Britain\u2019s native supermarkets, once known as the \u2018big four,\u2019 against the wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In May, Lidl<\/a> forced Morrisons<\/a> out of the top five by market share and Aldi<\/a> is threatening to leapfrog Asda<\/a> into third place. The green-liveried discount grocer has been haemorrhaging market share in recent years and slumped to a near-\u00a31bn loss in June. Aldi, meanwhile, recently opened its 1,080th store in the UK and was just 0.6 per cent behind Asda last month, according to Worldpanel by Numerator.\u00a0<\/p>\n The German discounters overcame the initial scepticism of British shoppers in the early 2010s, winning over the so-called \u2018Maidstone mums\u2019 to become the go-to for middle-class households looking for bargain champagne or freshly-baked goods \u2013 not just those feeling the pinch.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though Sainsbury\u2019s<\/a> and Tesco<\/a> \u2013 the two crown jewels of the UK\u2019s grocery sector \u2013 appear safe from the insurgent discounters, their aggressive advertising campaigns in recent years make it clear that the two German supermarkets are on their minds. Both FTSE 100 grocers are piling new products onto their Aldi price match ranges, showing that the pair are wary not to rest on their laurels.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the \u2018big four\u2019 have been handed what they hope will be a life raft in their bid to stem the tide of competition from Aldi and Lidl. Last week, the competition watchdog said it has provisionally decided to close a land-use loophole which had afforded the German discounters a huge advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Currently, the two supermarkets are not covered by a set of rules, known as the Controlled Land Order, which was introduced in 2010 to stop grocers from buying up land to prevent rivals from opening new sites near their existing stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rule change to \u2018level playing field\u2019<\/p>\n This crackdown on so-called \u2018land banking\u2019 applies to Asda, Co-op, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury\u2019s, Tesco and Waitrose \u2013 but not Aldi and Lidl, because they are classed as \u2018limited assortment discounters\u2019, not \u2018large grocery retailers\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rivals of the German discounters had long campaigned for this loophole to be closed, and the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) said last week that it is on course to expand these rules to the two grocers. Because they now offer a wide range of products and purchase groceries directly from suppliers, these companies now operate more like \u2018large grocery retailers\u2019 than discounters, the watchdog has found<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tAssassin\u2019s Creed Black Flag Resynced review: A classic rebuilt<\/a><\/p>\n Aldi had attempted to resist the rule change, telling the CMA that it offers as little as seven per cent of the products stocked by their larger rivals, and typically discount their groceries by as much as 21 per cent compared to other supermarkets.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Aldi and its compatriot Lidl look set to lose this battle. \u201cThis is about allowing shoppers to choose where they spend their money and levelling the playing field for all major supermarkets,\u201d said Juliette Enser, the CMA\u2019s executive director of competition enforcement.<\/p>\n