Aldi, Lidl and Co.: Which discounters are fighting for market leadership

The discounters are popular in Germany – but have an increasing competition for customers. The top dogs Aldi and Lidl, in particular, recently fed many prizes and heated up the competition. In 2024, all discounters in this country made sales of a good 77 billion euros – and almost a third more than five years earlier. This is shown by the new data from the YouGov market research institute, which is available to the German Press Agency.

The discounters – in addition to Aldi and Lidl, include Penny, Netto and Norma – thus increasing more than the entire market. Between 2019 and 2024, the turnover of food retail grew by 26.6 percent to around 203 billion euros. But also supermarkets such as EDEKA and REWE grew on a similar size in the five-year comparison.

In the period – which was characterized by Corona and the Russian attack war on Ukraine – both groups were able to win market shares. In 2024, the discounters came to a good 38 percent market share, full -sorted to almost 29 percent. SB goods houses such as Kaufland, Marktkauf and Globus as well as the specialist trade in particular have lost. This usually focuses on individual ranges such as fruit and vegetables, meat, fish or cheese.

Hard competition in the trade

The intensive competition between the groups shows in detail: at the start of Pandemiege, the super and consumer markets won market shares. This can be seen in the data. At that time, for example, restaurant visits and vacations were not possible in the meantime, many people had more money available. In 2022 and 2023 there was a development to discounters. During these years, inflation was shot up due to the war – food was more expensive.

This shift has now been stopped. According to the information, the discounters no longer give it as a matter of course, the full -sorters will recover. Kecskes further announced: “This not only increases the competition between the sales rails in intensity, the struggle for market shares between discounters also intensifies”.

Price slip at Lidl and Aldi

This can be observed, especially for the largest German discounters: Aldi and Lidl. In the past few days, the trading companies have had a full -grown price war. Lidl first announced the “biggest price reduction in its history” – and claimed to have more than 500 articles over almost all of the product groups. Depending on the region, a discount of up to 35 percent was announced. The company from Bad Wimpfen near Heilbronn left exactly which products should be cheaper.

Market leader Aldi was not long asked: In 2025, around 1,000 items have already been reduced in price, hundreds are to be added in the coming weeks. Customers should pay fewer for dairy products, meat and sausage products, frozen food, sweets and cleaning agents, among other things. “For us, price leadership is not a short -term action mode, but a basic principle,” it said. Other traders also followed up.

Fight for discount market shares

There are scope for reductions: According to the Federal Statistical Office, foods were 36.5 percent more expensive than on average 2020. Trading expert Stephan Rüschen from the Baden-Württemberg Dual University of Applied Sciences would be believed: “If the dealers were to put the prizes back on a few weeks, they would lose credibility.

In any case, ruffles assume that the price spiral is about more: “Lidl is about gaining market shares and Aldi lose price leadership.” Price leadership means that customers are perceived as the cheapest provider and can set prices. “Lidl is on the upper and gets closer – and at some point it could also make Aldi and south out of sales to outslure”.

Kecskes is also certain: “The price struggles in the discount are an expression of a strategic competition for price -sensitive consumers”. In this way, customers should be lured into the shops. However, these price reductions do not affect the entire range, but are part of a mixed calculation: low prices for some products should attract new customers, which ideally also bought items with a higher profit margin.