Lidl thrives but Tesco falls short in October sales of British apples

Lidl topped the chart for British apple sales in October, outstripping its market share and buying over 3,000 tonnes of domestically grown fruit.

It was British Apple Month and the first big month of the British apple season.

The figures, released by industry body British Apples & Pears (BAPL), showed that Lidl bought 3,030 tonnes of new-season British apples via BAPL members. This represented 22.1 per cent of all British apple sales in October, compared to Lidl’s grocery market share of just 7.6 per cent.

Other retailers, such as Tesco, have been slower to get behind new-season British apples this year. In October 2022, the UK’s biggest supermarket topped the British apple sales chart with 2,902 tonnes, but in October 2023 the retailer only bought 1,325 tonnes – less than half the 2022 volume.

Commenting on the start of British apple season, Ali Capper, executive chair of BAPL, said: “Lidl’s performance is outstanding. They really got behind British apples in our first month of the new season. Sainsbury’s and Aldi also did very well, taking 2,764 and 2,628 tonnes of British apples respectively.

“For Tesco to be so far behind their sales last year – down 54 per cent – and to be in fourth place in our league table for the month is very disappointing.

“We know from consumer comments on our social channels that they get very excited about buying new-season, home-grown British apples. Sadly, Tesco has let them and British topfruit growers down.”

In October 2023, Tesco sold just 9.8 per cent of all the British apples retailed, compared to their grocery market share 27.4 per cent.

Full details of BAPL member monthly sales can be viewed here.