More Brits turn to Aldi, Lidl as food inflation hits record high

Bloomberg

Inflation on British groceries jumped to another record high in January with little sign of the price rises slowing on the
consumers’ weekly shop.
The rate hit 16.7% in the four weeks to Jan. 22, up from 14.4% in December, reaching the highest level since Kantar started tracking the data in 2008. The increase adds an extra £788 ($973) to shoppers’ annual spend on groceries.
German discounter Aldi was the fastest-growing grocer for the fourth month in a row with sales rising almost 27% from a year earlier. Lidl was close behind with an increase of around 24%.
Overall UK inflation may be starting to ease from the worst levels in more than four decades, but food prices are stubbornly going up and up and that’s causing tensions between supermarkets and their suppliers. Shoppers are visiting discount supermarkets, buying own-label goods and putting fewer items in their baskets to try to cope with the rising cost of food.
“Late last year, we saw the rate of grocery price inflation dip slightly, but that small sign of relief for consumers has
been short-lived,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
Shoppers relied on supermarket own-label goods with sales rising 9.3% compared with just a 1% increase in branded alternatives. Tesco Plc chairman John Allan hit a nerve when he said earlier this month that some food producers are profiteering from the higher inflation.
The Kantar data also showed shoppers adopting the so-called Veganuary trend with supermarket sales of own-brand vegan or plant-based options growing by 21%.
“The latest figures are deeply concerning,” said Sue Davies, head of food policy at consumer magazine Which. “Some households are already skipping meals to make ends meet.”
The magazine published a report earlier this month saying shoppers’ trust in supermarkets is declining and grocers should do more to help consumers through the cost-of-living crisis.
Feuding Billionaire Aldi Heirs Put Long-Running Dispute to Rest
One of Germany’s longest-running family feuds has finally been put to rest.
The heirs of Theo Albrecht, who helped build the Aldi supermarket empire with cut-price groceries and an array of specials from plants to pajamas, have agreed to reorganize the Aldi Nord group under one holding foundation, according to a statement late on Monday. The new entity will be held in equal part by the families of Theo’s son, Theo Jr., and his late brother, Berthold Albrecht.
The arrangement aims to end a dispute that drew the once-obsessively secretive clan into the courtroom and the public eye, and saw Theo Jr. attack his brother’s widow, Babette Albrecht, for her spending on artworks and vintage cars.
Aldi Nord, controlled by three trusts, is the northern branch of the chain of discount supermarkets that originated when brothers Theo and Karl Albrecht took over their parents’ grocery store after World War II. They split in 1960 in a dispute over whether to sell cigarettes, drawing a line through Germany that created Aldi Nord and Aldi Sued.
The two branches now have more than 10,000 stores combined, both in Germany and in international markets like the UK. Theo’s side of the family also owns Trader Joe’s, which it bought in 1979.