All language subtitles for Lidl.Behind.The.Scenes.24.7.2023.1080p.WEB.H264-CBFM

ELIZABETH CARLING: With an extra
1.5 million new customers

flocking through their doors
last year,

Lidl is now one of the UK's
biggest supermarkets.

Lidl are taking share
from the traditional supermarkets.

They're basically
hoovering it all up.

In this programme,

we go behind the scenes
to spend 24 hours with Lidl...

The logistics for Lidl in the UK
is breath-taking.

..and discover the companies
that supply them.

So, every one of these eggs now
is picked off,

and it's fed down a machine
at 180,000 eggs per hour.

We shed light on the tricks
of the trade...

Top tip - go early in the morning.

All the shelves are full,
everything's fresh.

..reveal how they aim
to keep food bills low.

That looks like the product I like,
but it's cheaper.

We'll give bargain hunters
new tips...

So, if you're able to shop late
on a Wednesday evening,

you might get first dibs
on this week's great offers.

Best time of day to go
is around four to five o'clock.

They normally have, like,
one crate with all the markdowns.

..and discover the secrets
of the imitation game.

They use the same colours,
the same fonts, but cheaper.

Plus, we'll explain how
to get the best

out of the middle-aisle offerings.

It's an affordable Christmas
present, birthday present...

Or to treat yourself.
Definitely.

So, how do they keep customers
flooding in

and beat many
of the more traditional supermarkets

at their game...

Lidl has every base covered.

They're offering good-quality
products but at lower prices.

That's a threat to supermarkets
that are offering premium products.

We're a savvy consumer,
we're a smart consumer,

and we're not looking back.

..as we lift the lid on Lidl.

It's Thursday at 5am,
and the first shift has just begun

at one of over 950 Lidl stores
in the UK.

Deliveries of fresh food have been
arriving throughout the night.

At the Thomases' family farm
in Mid Wales,

the hens start laying their eggs.

There's roughly 32...

Well, just under 32,000 birds
in the shed now,

and we're probably getting around

between 28,000 to 29,000 eggs a day.

Dylan's task
is to get his free-range eggs

from the laying barn to Lidl's
shelves as quickly as possible.

The birds go in each morning,
lay their eggs,

and then the eggs go
onto a conveyor,

and then they go through and round
into the packing room next door,

where they're packed and stamped.

The logistics for Lidl in the UK
is breath-taking,

and the scale of it is something
that shoppers don't really see.

That's what allows them
to have the prices so cheap,

but they don't
compromise on the quality.

Freshness is a huge concept
for Lidl,

and that's how they differentiate
themselves from competitors.

And the fresh delivery comes in
every single day.

Most of Dylan's eggs are collected

within two days
of the eggs being laid

by lorries from Griffiths Farms
processing plant.

Well, this egg here was laid
on the 29th.

It's today the 30th.

This will be in a distribution depot
tomorrow morning.

To make that possible
requires high-tech robotics.

So, every one of these eggs now
is picked off,

and it's fed down a machine
at 180,000 eggs per hour.

The loading robot is relentless.

This has worked for us ten years.

It doesn't know a bank holiday,
it doesn't know a Christmas Day.

The chickens lay an egg every day,

and we have to work every day
as key workers.

Ten years ago, we supplied
three types of egg to Lidl.

We can now be over 24 different
choices for the customer.

That is size, that is profile, and
every one meets a different budget.

7.25am in store.

All the fresh goods,
including Dylan's eggs,

are stacked on shelves.

All the aisles have been cleared
of any surplus packaging,

and they're ready
for the influx of customers.

Everything should be done by 7:30.

Getting everything ready,
customer-facing by eight o'clock.

As the shop gets ready to open,

its stacked shelves
look very different

to some of the more traditional
supermarkets.

Here, they're filled with a variety
of lesser-known names.

90% of their products
are own-labelled brands.

Whether you're buying potatoes
or crisps or broccoli,

everything has
its own distinctive own brand,

and it makes it all seem
a bit more premium

and a bit more interesting than
if it was all just branded "Lidl".

So while the names may differ,
most are really Lidl in disguise.

And that makes good sense
for a supermarket

that prides itself on low prices.

They keep their costs low through
their private-label strategy.

Because they are able
to control the production of them,

they control what they look like,

and they can control
the price of them.

They focus on price, price, price.

8am.

It's opening time
across the supermarket giant's

many stores throughout the UK.

From Orkney in the north
to Penzance in the south,

and as the customers begin
to pour through the doors,

they're greeted
by Lidl's own-brand named products,

many with strangely
familiar-looking packaging.

Lidl really capitalise
on the consumer psyche

when they use similar branding
to a market leader.

You feel a massive sense
of reassurance, and you think,

"Ooh, that looks like the product
I like, but it's lots cheaper."

From Cheese Curls for Quavers,

Freeway Cola for Coke,

and Cien for TRESemme,
the colours, shapes, and even fonts

create a big-brand style appearance
for shoppers.

They can get away with it because
they can use those market leaders

as inspiration
rather than imitation.

But every so often,
it will come up with a design

that does incur the wrath
of the big brand.

Generally, if that happens,
Lidl ends up in court.

In 2021,
the company lost a Scottish case

over an own-brand gin looking
too similar to Hendrick's Gin.

And, in 2022, a Swiss court ruled
that its gold foil chocolate bunnies

looked too much like Lindt's.

And while the discounter
walks this fine line

as it bids to grow its business,
there could be more cases to come.

Retail is cut-throat.

You know, market share
is very precious to a retailer.

Very precious.

So, it'll be interesting
to watch this space.

Coming up...

We put own brands on trial
to discover if they taste as good...

There ain't much flavour to that.

Not much flavour?
No.

..and we reveal the secret to the
supermarket's super-speedy checkout.

We had targets.
We had to scan 30 items per minute.

We're spending 24 hours in Lidl

to understand how this supermarket
really works.

8:30,
and the clued-up early-bird shoppers

are already filling their baskets.

Top tip - go early in the morning.

Get there at eight o'clock,
between eight and nine.

All the shelves are full,
everything's fresh,

everything's been rotated.

And the supermarket's own brands
are finding new customers.

During every cost-of-living crisis,
every downturn,

people are more prepared
to try those own brands.

Through
their private-label strategy,

they offer really good products,

really good-quality products,
at lower prices.

It sounds too good to be true.

So, just how good are they?

It's a hot summer's day,
and by 9.30am,

the ice-cream end
of the freezer section

has already taken a hammering.

Lidl's own-brand Bon Gelati
ice-cream cone is proving popular,

but just how tasty is it?

And how does it compare
to more expensive brands?

Briony May Williams loves ice cream

almost as much
as she loves a bargain.

So, she heads to the prom
at Blackpool

to conduct a very cool taste test.

For me, there's nothing better
than an ice cream on a sunny day,

but the price of the classic cone
can vary in different supermarkets.

I know you can pick up
a bit of a bargain

on some lookalike own-brand treats.

Do they really taste as good?

Along with the classic Cornetto,
I've got three own brands,

and I wanna see which one of them
has got it licked.

Lidl's Bon Gelati ice-cream cone
is in red foil,

and, at 24p,
is the cheapest offering.

The most expensive, the Cornetto,
is in blue.

Tesco's own brand
is in plain silver,

and Morrisons' is silver
but with a red lid.

The flavours of all the ice creams
are the same, they're strawberry,

but this is going
to be a blind taste test,

so the participants won't know
which brand they're sampling.

Time to get the scoop
on which one's the best.

We're handing out free ice creams!

You try it,
and then let me know what you think.

Ooh, that looks all right,
doesn't it?

The lure of luscious strawberry
ice creams on the iconic prom

proves an instant hit.

You unwrap that one. Have a taste,
let me know what you think.

The first test
is if you can open it!

BRIONY LAUGHS

Mmm!
Did you like it?

First up, cheapest of the bunch,
Lidl in the red foil.

Sweet. Very sweet?
Yeah.

Good strawberry flavour?
Aye.

Yeah, that's quite nice.

That is very soft.

Too soft?
Too soft for me.

Is it nice?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you like the flavour?
Yeah, very, very nice.

Next, the most expensive at 33p,
the Wall's Cornetto.

This one's nice.
It's got the white chocolate on top.

You like the white chocolate?

I'm not that keen
on white chocolate.

Oh, aren't you?

No, that's put me off a bit.
OK.

There isn't much flavour to that.

Not much flavour?
No.

Next up is Tesco, at 30p a cone.

Go on, Alan, get in there!

It's the Tesco one
you like the best. So there you go.

Sorted. Aye, we need to go
to Tesco's now.

BRIONY LAUGHS

Lastly, Morrisons, and it proved
to be particularly crunchy.

CONE CRUNCHES

That's a bit icy
as you bite into it.

Tough decisions have to be made.

I don't know.

As the test progresses,

it's the candidate in red foil
that gets the top vote,

putting lowest-priced Lidl firmly at
the head of the ice-cream cabinet.

This one. Still that one?
This one's better.

Interestingly,
the one that you chose as top,

that was in red, was from Lidl.

Looks like Karen must like it.

So, the one that you actually
like the most was the cheapest.

Cheapest, yeah.
Yeah.

Not a surprise, then,

that the people of Blackpool
loved their ice creams,

and the one
that came out on top was...

Lidl, with just shy of 75% of people
choosing it as their favourites.

With our group of punters,

it's Lidl that shines
as the jewel of the gelatos.

So, that just goes to show
that the supermarket ice creams

can really hold their own
against the market leader.

Twelve o'clock,
and the store is gearing up

for a daily supermarket sweep.

From 12 o'clock into the,
like, the middle of the day,

you'd have your lunchtime rush.

And that can mean all hands
to the tills.

Everyone is till-trained,

no matter how low or high
your status is in the store -

whether you're a manager
or a customer assistant.

Checkouts are a potential
pinch point for customers,

and causing delay
is not the Lidl way.

Everything in a Lidl store is about
efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.

They want to get as many people
in the door and out of the door

as quickly as possible.

Once you come to pay,
they want rid of you.

The supermarket hates a logjam,

and staff act fast
at the first sign of a hold-up.

As soon as a trolley was appearing
behind another trolley,

that means you've got one plus one,

which means
that there's a queue forming,

so you have
to call a second till person on.

But the discounter also has a
cunning trick to keep things moving.

What they don't want
is what's called mis-scanning.

Every tiny gain they can make
is significant,

so mis-scanning takes time,
costs money.

Their solution is unmistakable.

If you notice the bar codes
on their products,

they're huge bar codes,
which take up all of the packaging.

So they can get it scanned quickly,
first time.

It needs to be right every time.

A key part of their strategy

is to get us through the tills
as quickly as possible.

We had to scan 30 items,
like, per minute.

The idea is to save time
on everything.

These bar codes allow them
to do that.

The roots of the supermarket's
legendary efficiency

stretch back to 1930s Germany,
where it began life as a wholesaler.

It didn't open as a supermarket
until 1973,

but from then on,
there was no stopping them.

In terms of its global footprint,
Lidl is huge, it's everywhere.

It wasn't until 1994
that Lidl launched in Great Britain,

but they had a bumpy landing.

When Lidl first opened in the UK
in 1994, its stores were...

a bit of a culture shock, frankly.

Their products still had German
writing on them,

and they were a bit of a joke.

People were embarrassed
to be seen in them.

The supermarket's thrifty no-frills
efficiency worked well in Germany,

but British shoppers expected closer
to what they were used to.

Added to which,
the fact people saw them

as a German business
was a huge hurdle to overcome.

To survive in Britain,

they realised
they had to make changes.

They had to buy British.

It's been really interesting
to see in recent years

is how Lidl is trumpeting
its Britishness.

The consumer want products
that are made by farms in the UK,

sourced from the agricultural
heritage that we've got in the UK.

And what better symbol
to use than a Union Jack

that brings everybody together?

They're in Britain, for Britain.

You'll see the red, white, and blue
on products all over the shelves.

They offer over 1,800
British-made products,

and they focus on those things
that are important from farmers

like dairy products,
milk, cheese and eggs.

And that's really important
for some customers

that want to support those farmers.

It gives them this good feeling
to wanna shop with Lidl.

It's a reason to shop with them,
for sure.

They now have
over 650 British suppliers

and plans to invest 17 billion
in British food and farming by 2025.

Although it's a German store,

it's actually one of the
biggest investors in UK suppliers.

12:20pm.

Amongst the early sandwich-grabbers
and lunch-break raiders

are customers
on a more complex mission -

the weekly family shop.

When you're stocking up
on a week's worth of provisions,

the dedicated Lidl shoppers'
best friend is their loyalty app.

Loyalty cards are incredible
in getting consumers to stay

because what you're doing
is rewarding them

for purchases
they would have made anyway.

But the supermarket
is a very late adopter.

Tesco launched their
Clubcard loyalty scheme in 1995.

It took another 25 years
before Lidl got in on the act,

and typically,
it took a different approach.

In 2020, Lidl launched its own
loyalty scheme called Lidl Plus.

It takes the form of an app
rather than a card,

so you don't have a bit of plastic
to have to carry around.

The supermarket's rewards app
varies from month to month,

but they tend to offer either
a coupon, freebies,

money-off vouchers
or a scratch card,

depending on how much
you've spent in-store.

They don't use a points system,
as many other retailers do.

Us Brits, we love free items,

so being able to get that free item
with your big shop

is such a huge win.

It's not about racking up all
those points that you never spend.

It's trying to reward customers

in a way that is meaningful
and immediate,

rather than having people
building up a points balance

that doesn't really mean anything
to them.

The Lidl phone app
also gives you discounts

on the middle of Lidl items.

Basically, if you go into Lidl,
you get a good price anyway,

and the idea of Lidl Plus is that
it's like the icing on the cake.

It's a cake the supermarket
has been taking a larger slice of

year after year.

Their market share
has grown so much

that larger supermarkets are
lowering their prices to compete.

Super shopper Hannah Edia is
dedicated to sniffing out a bargain,

both online and in-store,

and she's about
to put Lidl's low-price reputation

to the test
in her own personal shop-off

with market leader Tesco.

So, I'm gonna be comparing
prices between Lidl and Tesco.

Let's see which one is cheaper.

You know, let's lay the argument
down once and for all, but first,

I'm gonna have my lunch because
you should never go shopping hungry.

With her stomach suitably full,
Hannah heads to her local store

and picks out a selection of items
that make it into her weekly shop.

From fruit and veg...

So, nice big two of these.

..to canned goods
and processed foods.

And ranging from own brands...

to big brands and household names.

Just look at all
this soft white bread.

I like buying the thick one.

It's been a standard family weekly
shop at Lidl for busy mother Hannah,

with three bags full to show for it,
including cucumbers, cheese singles,

bread, eggs, and sweet potatoes
so what's the verdict?

I thought I bought the entire store,
but I ended up spending £87.58,

which I think
it's a really good bargain.

But are Hannah's instincts matched
by the facts?

Back at her apartment,

she gets online
for a price comparison contest.

Now it's time to see how Tesco
compares with Lidl. Let's see.

Lidl and Tesco, I think we'll find
a lot of things surprising.

I am really looking forward
to this one.

So, we start off with cucumber.

In my weekly shop,
cucumber cost 79p.

And at Tesco, it also cost 79p.

So it's even-stevens
on the cucumber.

So, let's check out cheese singles.

At Lidl, it was 99p.

Over here at Tesco, it is 83p,

so Tesco's actually
in the lead here.

So, how do they compare
on some better-known brands?

So, let's check out the price
for Hovis Soft White bread.

That is £1.40 at Lidl,

and it's the same price,
actually, at Tesco.

It is £1.40.

This is not very surprising
because it's a named brand,

and I expect that it's gonna be
the same price.

No signs of massive savings so far.

Time to turn her attention
to some grocery staples like eggs,

own brand versus own brand.

I bought six free range large eggs
at Lidl for £1.65.

However, Tesco, it is £1.75.

Has a 10p difference.

As Hannah works down the list
and the groceries pile up,

so does the price difference...

in Lidl's favour.

At Lidl, sweet potatoes is 99p.

However, at Tesco, it £1.09.

So far, we've checked about...
many items, and Lidl is in the lead.

In like-for-like comparisons,
Lidl did score better overall,

but there was no shortage
of surprises.

I was thinking initially that Tesco
was gonna really struggle

when it comes to comparing
with Lidl, but not so much.

Yes, Lidl is still cheaper
than Tesco, but not by a long shot.

The takeaway tip
from this shopping trip -

focus on Lidl's own brands
to catch a bargain,

but don't automatically presume that
their prices will always be cheaper.

Coming up...

How a clever convenience
could our increase spending...

You can't feel the weight,
and it works magically.

..and top tips
for nabbing a bargain.

They need to be there as soon as the
doors open to get the best offers.

We're lifting the lid on Lidl,

spending 24 hours
with the price-cutting store.

It's risen from humble beginnings

to become the UK's
sixth-largest supermarket,

and it has big plans
to rise even further.

Lidl are taking share
from the traditional supermarkets.

They're basically
hoovering it all up.

They are fighting
to keep that market share

and to continue their growth.

But that depends on them
making sure that we spend more.

12:45pm, and staff at the entrance
have topped up the baskets

for lunch-break shoppers.

And the only baskets in this store
are very big and on wheels.

Guess why.

Have you ever been in a supermarket
where you're carrying a basket round

and that basket's getting too heavy?

The first thing it does,
it stops you shopping.

The idea of the wheelie basket
is basically so that they don't feel

so weighed down when they are
walking around with a basket.

So, essentially,
when you go to the till,

suddenly it all builds up,
and you spend a lot more.

It makes you buy more things cos
you're not feeling the weight of it.

These lunchtime shoppers,

thinking about what to have
for dinner that night,

will find another shopper trap
waiting for them,

in the way the store is laid out.

Every Lidl store
is the exact same layout,

and it's laid out on purpose.

Many shoppers go in search
of fresh meat and fish

as their main meal ingredient,

so the supermarket puts them
as far away as possible.

Putting the fresh meats
and fresh food in general

at the back of the store means
you walk around the store more,

and as a result,
you're gonna buy more

because you're seeing more
of their product on display.

But one fresh food offering
is always right inside the door...

and it's a firm favourite.

Oh, my God, the bakery's insane.

I had, like, a pastel de nata.

Apple turnovers, the custard tarts,

and I absolutely love
a Lidl sourdough loaf.

And, of course, there's a reason the
stores place their oven-fresh bakery

just by the entrance.

That smell of bread
when you walk through the door,

the warm smell, sugar,
it gets a consumer enticed,

but it creates an atmosphere
for the consumer to buy

because it makes you feel
a little bit more hungry.

You're gonna have
to pick up a croissant

that you never planned on buying.

And the effect lingers,
which means a bigger basket.

It's 1pm on a Thursday -

the peak time for drawing
the shoppers' attention

towards the latest deals.

Promotions start from Thursday

and end the Wednesday
the following week,

so you get
a lot of branded products,

promotions based on what food
or what country

is being celebrated in that week.

Those things tend to be on rotation,
but they do fizzle out.

And, genuinely, when it's gone,
it is gone.

So it's named really well,
I guess, in that respect.

It's important for Lidl to be able
to keep showing them new things

so that every time
they come into a store,

they see something new.

And the need for speed and
efficiency comes first yet again,

but Lidl will look
to save money wherever it can,

and that means
saving its employees time.

What they have in Lidl is what's
called SRP, shelf-ready packaging,

and you'll see that it's boxes,

they rip the lids off,
they go straight on the shelves.

And even here, the supermarket
naturally adds a twist.

On their shelves,
they place the price above the item,

not directly below where it sits.

They have a policy called
"eye level is buy level",

so the idea is that you look
at the product,

and then you look above
and see how much it costs.

If you went into
traditional supermarket stores,

where do you automatically look?
You look beneath it for the price.

You wouldn't look above it,
so, automatically,

when you look underneath it,

that's the price
that you think it's gonna be.

So, buyer beware.

A casual first-time shopper

may believe they're getting
a bargain price

because they're looking
in the wrong place.

But there's one legendary area
of the Lidl store

where everyone's attention
soon becomes sharply focused.

I go there for the middle aisle,
to be honest.

Yeah, I do like the mystery aisle.
I get a bit caught up in it.

You go, and you're like,
"Oh, I like that."

2pm, and on Thursdays, this is a
key moment in the store's schedule.

It's the time and day
when the middle aisle,

the supermarket's
Aladdin's cave of merchandise,

has its major restock,
and it's an eclectic mix.

Trampolines, pianos,

"Yahama" keyboards, guitars,
you name it.

I went in to my local Lidl recently,

and you could get everything
from solar Buddhas to paddle boards.

It's a really,
really fun way to shop.

It also offers amazing prices.

Customers can escape
the drudge of the weekly food shop

and contemplate a colourful world

of lifestyle products, gadgets,
and leisurewear

in this oasis
of conspicuous consumption.

But behind
the apparently random jumble

is a well-thought-out plan.

All of those purchases
are calculated strategically

for seasonal demand.

Lidl are very clever
when it comes to things like this

because they know what's trendy.

What the customer
are likely to be doing,

thinking and feeling at that time.

What do they like?
What do they have interest in?

And when will they need the product?
It's all strategic.

The real magic of the middle aisle

is that us shoppers
can't help acting on impulse.

And I'm thinking,
"I really need that.

"No, I don't need it. I want it."

Until I'm convinced that,
"No, I actually need it,"

and then when you get home,
"I really didn't need it."

It's a really clever strategic way
of making their customers

buy something that they don't need.

Cos you didn't expect them.
They're unplanned purchases.

You go into Lidl,
and you walk out with a trampoline.

And that's why it's in the middle,
and the essentials are at the back.

You have to walk past the middle
aisles to go and grab your milk.

It's a clever psychological trick.

The middle aisle stops us
in our tracks

by offering unexpected
and quirky items

that distract us from the boredom
of our weekly food shop.

To test out this trick,

we decided
to ask comedian Olaf Falafel

to set up his own version
of a Lidl middle aisle

in the centre of Luton,
to see just how it works.

Can the British public spot a real,
yet genuinely bizarre,

Lidl product
from one Olaf has simply made up?

Hi there. My name is Olaf Falafel,
comedian, and I'm here in Luton,

lovely Luton town, and I'm gonna
be asking members of the public

if they know
what is in the middle aisle of Lidl.

Olaf has come up with a selection
of nine middle-aisle maybes,

but only three are the real deal.

Can Lidl aficionados in Luton
pick out the sublime

from the truly ridiculous?

Do you reckon you can tell the
difference between my weird stuff

and stuff you can actually buy
in the middle aisle?

I can try.

First up, three freaky products
for fresh produce.

Two of these,
I've made up completely.

One of them,
you can genuinely find in Lidl.

In Lidl, I see.
Yes.

We have Strawberry Pavilion,

Radish Rotunda,

or Potato Tower.
Which do you reckon?

So, which one is the most plausible?

What are you going for, Trevor?
The Radish Rotunda.

You're going for the Radish Rotunda.

What do think you do
with a Radish Rotunda?

Put your radishes in there...

Give it a little spin,
and they come out looking...

Come out looking like radishes
that are slightly cleaner.

That have been spun.

Radish Rotunda.
Radish Rotunda!

You know what... it's not.

No? It's the Potato Tower.
Really?

Potato Tower IS the right answer.

Can they find the genuine article
in a gaggle of gadgets?

Here's the next one.

Slingshot Slider,
Solar-Powered Seagull,

or Elasticated Monkey Launcher.

I'd go with the...
probably the monkey.

The Slingshot Glider.

The Slingshot Glider.
Well done. Ding, ding, ding.

Finally, three types
of barely believable animal refuge.

We've got a Cat Chateau,
Hedgehog Cabin, or Toad Abode.

But which one of them will provide a
creature comfort for Lidl shoppers?

Cat chateau, no.

Hedgehog cabin.
Ooh.

The Cat Chateau.
The Cat Chateau.

Hedgehog Cabin. You're both going
for Hedgehog Cabin?

I hate to do this,
but it's Toad Abode.

Oh, dear Lord!

Yes, Lidl does provide a home
for our amphibious friends.

It may even be multipurpose.

Also makes like a nice little
kind of World War I-style helmet,

doesn't it?

If Olaf's test is anything to go by,

it's clear the people of Luton

believe anything's possible
in the middle aisle.

And the more bizarre,
the more plausible it seems.

Most importantly, it made them look.

It's 3pm,
and the middle-aisle displays

are now looking even more chaotic.

Those in the know
have already rummaged around

to get the best
of the latest bargains.

And for those just arriving,
there's an added incentive to buy -

FOMO.

But you've gotta get there fast,
cos when it's gone, it's gone.

So, you're in this situation
where you're like,

"If I leave it, I won't get it

"because it's not gonna be here
when I get back,"

so the fear of missing out
is such a punishment for you

that you just stick it
into your basket

and off you go and buy this product.

And when you get home,
you really didn't need it.

And the retailer relies on these
panic buys and impulse purchases.

It's a bit of business
they really couldn't live without.

Grocery margins are actually quite
tight when it comes to food retail,

so they rely on general merchandise
sales to balance the books.

And that gives them an edge
over their supermarket rivals.

If you were to shop in Tesco,

you're very likely
to stick to your shopping list.

You never get that in Lidl.

3:30pm, and a standout product
is catching the eye

on the middle aisle.

Recently, Rita Ora launched
a haircare range

in collaboration
with the discounter,

and that has been
getting them noticed.

Now, adding a A-list celebrity
to your product

adds prestige, status
and elevates your brand.

It will be in newspapers,
in magazines,

and it'll introduce new people
into Lidl,

who possibly might not
have considered it before.

You're gonna rocket those sales
straight through the roof.

A celebrity name may add sales
clout, but what about the quality?

Rita Ora's volume
hair-drying brush is half the price

of its rival from Revlon,
but how do they match up in action?

We approached a busy hair salon
to help us find out.

So, today, we're gonna try out
the two - the Revlon brush,

and we're also going to try out
the Rita Ora brush, the hot brushes.

And we're just gonna see
how they compare...

and see which one we prefer.

Salon owner Leigh
and senior stylist Isobel

and two brave volunteers

put these budget models
through their paces.

First, on volume and bounce,
starting with the Revlon.

This is the Revlon hot brush...
that I'm using here today.

It's creating nice volume.

Using it at home, you'd be able
to create a nice bouncy blow-dry...

..feeling like you've had
your hair done in the salon

when you've done it
at home yourself.

Next up, Rita Ora's.

It's pulling quite a bit,
so, you can see,

it's just not giving it
the bend.

For me, personally,
I don't find I'm getting the lift

and I'm getting the balance
and the bend that I need to get.

So, the Revlon seems
to offer better bounce,

but can it provide a smooth finish?

It does give a nice bouncy blow
and a smooth finish.

Results-wise, definitely
getting your money's worth.

Yeah.

To be fair, I'm actually impressed
with the result

of when it's on a smooth blow-dry.
As you can see...

It is giving it
that nice smooth finish.

But, yes, I'm definitely impressed

with the smoothness
it's giving to this.

So, the Revlon seems to beat
the Rita Ora for bounce,

although the Rita Ora is at least
its equal over smoothness,

so what are the final results?

You can tell,
the way they've made them,

they are very similar.
Yeah.

Very similar in what they do,
very similar hold of the brush.

Yeah, shape, size.
Shape, size, everything.

It is very, very similar.

The Revlon one gave out
a lot more power...

Yeah, it was more...
..and a lot more heat.

So, out of ten,
what are you thinking?

Rita, I'd probably give it a seven.
I agree.

Then the Revlon one...

Probably an eight-and-a-half.
Eight, definitely.

Eight.
I'm with you on that one.

So, the more established Revlon
brand came out on top in our test,

but at half the price,

would the pros give the Rita Ora
hot brush their blessing?

I'd definitely say, yeah,
if you're on a budget

and you want that bouncy blow-dry,
or even a smooth, sleek finish.

It's an affordable
Christmas present, birthday present.

Or to treat yourself.
Definitely.

Coming up...

How the discounter is going all-out
to get even bigger.

It's like Lidl on steroids.

And peeling back the truth
about low-cost juice.

So, you have expensive tastes?

Don't get any ideas cos we'll be
sticking with this end.

We're spending 24 hours in Lidl,

to understand how this supermarket
really works.

It's 4pm in store,

and shelves are restocked
after a busy afternoon.

We have set points in the day

where you do a check and a refill
of whatever was left out.

This is just one of more than 900
Lidl stores in the UK.

Over at the last 100 years,
Lidl have spread across the globe,

recently opening stores
in Eastern Europe and America.

And they have big plans
for Britain.

Lidl's game plan is to open
as many stores as they possibly can,

whether that's in Scotland
or all the way down to the south

or every single place in between,

they need a store
for consumers to shop in

because they only trade
through stores.

On current plans, they're opening
a UK store every fortnight.

It's like Lidl on steroids.

But that's not the only change -

their target locations
show Lidl's going up in the world.

In the early days,

people who shopped at Lidl
tended to be those on lower incomes.

What they did is they opened up
in fairly low-income neighbourhoods.

Not any more. They're now
going to the more affluent areas.

The supermarket is working hard
at persuading us

that they're less
about penny-pinching

and more about being money-smart.

They've very much positioned
themselves as...

..appealing to the savvy shopper,

and being savvy
is really fashionable.

If you know how to save money,
you're way ahead of the game.

And their glossy marketing campaigns

are aimed at those
with a little more cash to splash.

The produce, the customers,

and the products that Lidl store
have definitely gone more upmarket.

You can buy things
from black olive paste

to lemon-flavoured pasta

to chocolate-filled croissants
to frozen arancini.

The sort of stuff you'd struggle
to find in a massive supermarket.

You get that thing of going
into the Lidl car park

and seeing all the Audis
and the BMWs.

With their deluxe range
of premier produce,

their offer of British-sourced
quality fresh goods

and their bigger smarter stores,

the new-look Lidl
is now treading on the toes

of some very premium brands.

Particularly during
the cost-of-living crisis,

it gives those low-class shoppers
a reason to shop with Lidl.

They are really getting
into the territories

of M&S and Waitrose,
as well as Tesco's and Asda now,

in terms of the locations
that they're in

the products they offer.

On their target list
for new locations

is the likes of Knightsbridge,
Mayfair, and Westminster.

But finding the right site
isn't easy.

One of the biggest challenges
to Lidl's growth

is not finding locations
to put shops into.

And being Lidl,
they've come up with an original way

of seeking out sites -
by paying us to help.

If people can find somewhere

that they think is a good place
for a Lidl,

they can get a finder's fee.

They reward people,
just normal people like you and me,

for finding sites for them
where a Lidl could go.

4:30pm, and many shoppers
are seeking out

the store's
orange-sticker reductions.

The best time of day to go
is around four to five o'clock.

You'll actually see them
being marked,

so you'll be able to get them before
they even go back out onto shelves.

Most supermarkets discount stock
before it passes the sell-by date,

but again, Lidl is different.

They're not marked down on the day,
like other supermarkets,

they're marked down
two days before, generally.

The first day, it's 30% reduced.

By the second day,
it goes down to 60%.

5:30pm, and suddenly,

it seems more customers
are crossing the threshold.

It will pick up again post-school
and into the evening.

There is a point in the day
where it's so busy

that things start to sell out.

The after-work shoppers
are beginning to arrive

to do their weekly shop,

while others pop in to pick up
things that were forgotten earlier,

like orange juice.

We drink a billion litres of juice
every year,

and OJ is our favourite.

But in its quest to conquer
the middle-class consumer,

can Lidl's juice match up

to the likes of Waitrose
and market leader Tropicana?

Briony May Williams decided
a youth session at a cricket club

would be the perfect place
to find out.

She's poured four different pure
orange juices into a row of jugs,

and only she knows
the brands behind them.

We're gonna try four orange juices,
and I need you to rank them,

one to four,
which is your favourite.

In the first jug is Waitrose
own brand, at 18p per 100ml.

In the second jug
is low-cost Lidl's Naturis,

the cheapest offering
at 9p per 100ml.

Mid-range Asda is 17p per 100ml.

And the last jug is the top-priced
Tropicana, at 36p per 100ml -

four times the price of Lidl.

Each taster
will try them all in turn

before delivering
their final verdict.

You might expect
undiluted pure orange juices

to all taste the same...

but each brand
will have processed theirs

in a different way
before they reach the shelf.

There are also different orange
varieties used for the juices,

each with its own unique flavour.

So there's a bigger range
of flavours in orange juice

than you might expect.

And they evoke an equally big range
of reactions.

First in to bat is the upmarket
own brand from Waitrose.

Tastes like most orange juices
I've tasted, yeah.

Not as keen.
I'm not as keen. I don't know why.

It's a bit watery.

Disappointing.
Yeah.

Next in to bat is Lidl's own brand.

What about you, young man?
Just tastes of orange juice, really.

That is an entirely fair point.

Sweet and, yeah, good.
Nice?

I can't taste the orange as much.
It's not as strong.

This one is your favourite?

Yeah.
This one here is from Lidl.

That be why we like it.

Is it?
Do you normally buy from Lidl?

Lidl or Aldi, his favourite.

Next is mid-range Asda.

Oh, no, that's the worst.

It's very weak.
It's just not very orangey.

So, you said that you normally
buy your orange juice from Asda.

Yeah.
And this one is from Asda.

The worst one?
Yeah.

That's right. We need to stop
doing that, then, don't we?

But what will these cricketers
and their supporters make

of the brand leader, Tropicana?

At over four times the price of the
Lidl version, will it win the test?

Bit of mango in there.

Yeah, I'd say that tasted
more orangey.

You actually chose the Tropicana
as your favourite.

This one's your favourite,
isn't it, young man?

This is actually the Tropicana.
Expensive tastes.

So, you have expensive tastes, OK?

Don't get any ideas
cos we'll be sticking with this end.

So, with our group of 20 cricketers
and their family and friends tested,

what are the results?

Overall, the brand leader
has come out on top,

and that is definitely
the most popular.

But there's a strong showing
from Asda and Lidl,

which were in the middle.

I'd say that's pretty blooming good.

CHEERING

9.40pm.

The evening surge has subsided,
and the store is winding down.

There's normally only one
or two people on the till

because it's a really quiet period.

The idea is that
when the store closes at ten,

everyone's ready to leave
at quarter past ten.

There is no night shift
at this store.

Delivery drivers unload their goods,

ready for the cycle
to begin again at 5am,

running like clockwork.

There's a system for delivery,
there's a system for shutdown,

for open,
for anything you can imagine,

and everything runs off this system.

The company's systematic approach
has served the British shopper well.

60% of us have shopped at Lidl,

and with the planned expansion
to 1,100 stores,

its continued growth
seems guaranteed.

We're seeing Lidl's
pop up everywhere in the UK.

More stores means more customers.

More customers
means more money through the till.

As Lidl continues to win over
customers across Britain...

Every Lidl helps.