While people are still loyally shopping at Tesco (who have managed to hold onto around 28 per cent of the market share throughout the price war), it seems the discount stores may not only be better for prices, but also for quality.
The annual Grocer Food and Drink Own Labels Awards pitted 1,103 own-label products from eleven different supermarkets against each other, in order to find out which one had the best tasting products.
The discounters stole the top two places, with Aldi and Lidl both winning 13 gold awards each. Lidl took first place though when it came to the silver awards, winning 23 on top of their gold.
Aldi won an admirable second place with their 13 gold medals backed up by 12 silver medals.
Asda came third, and Marks and Spencer took fourth place.
Sainsburys won no gold awards, while Morrisons, SPAR and Costcutter received just one each. Waitrose did not enter any products.
The winning products were awarded through a combination of expert judges having a taste, and a customer’s poll.
Obviously, the managing director of Lidl UK, Ronny Gottschlich, was happy with the results. He said: “The awards help to reinforce our message that low cost does not mean having to compromise on quality.”
These awards do throw up the interesting question of why the market seems determined to stick to the big four stores, who have a lower emphasis on low prices than the discounters, but also, according to these awards, less tasty own brand products.
