Lidl makes major change to 'beat' Tesco as shoppers snap up 'fave item' 122 times a minute

There's a new leader when it comes to in store bakeries. Budget supermarket Lidl has overtaken Tesco for the largest share of the in-store bakery market in the first quarter of 2024, according to the Bakery Baker website.

The bestselling bakery item at Lidl is the All Butter Croissant, which sells at an average of 122 every minute, according to Lidl sales data for the first three months of 2024. Next most popular are the Demi Baguette, Jam Filled Doughnut and Chocolate Hazelnut Croissant, all selling at a rate of roughly one a second.

But it's the 'Special Guest' range - introduced last year as part of a revamp of its in-store bakeries - that's enabled Lidl to beat Tesco. This includes new limited edition bakes that arrive every two weeks and only remain in store for around a month - such as the popular Chocolate Cronut, Cheese Pretzel Roll, Chocolate Twist and Doughnut of the Month.

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Named Bakery Retailer of the Year at the 2023 Baking Industry Awards, the budget supermarket's share of the in-store bakery market climbed to 18.2% percent for the 12 weeks ending March 17, 2024, taking it just over Tesco's 18 percent share for the same period. The figures, from Kantar data showed Sainsbury's had a 13.7 percent share and Morrisons had just 11.6 percent.

Additional bakery boosts have included Lidl Plus users being rewarded with a free bakery item with every shop during February this year, which The Grocer said was 'seen by analysts as a shrewd way of leveraging a proposition Aldi does not have'. Aldi only has bakeries in 16 of its 1,000-plus UK stores.

Lidl has 40 freshly baked items that are part of its permanent stock. Popular freshly-baked goods that are always at Lidl include croissants, seeded sourdough, pizza and pastel de natas (egg custard tarts).

"At Lidl, we’re always offering customers a taste of the best products possible, for a fraction of the price – and nowhere is this clearer than in our industry-leading bakery,” said Scott Davey, Lidl GB senior buying director. “Whether customers are popping in for a croissant or trying out one of our innovative special guests, it’s clear our bakery offering is winning over the nation’s bakery popularity contest."