Industry insiders have warned Lidl could follow Aldi in stripping newspapers and magazines from its stores following a standoff between the discounter and publishers over commercial terms.

Industry figures told Better Retailing Lidl had demanded better commercial terms in January from newspaper and magazine publishers.

While these demands were apparently rejected and a renewal of the discounter’s agreements is said to not be scheduled until 2024, some warned the categories were at risk of losing access to Lidl’s nearly 1,000 UK sites.

“It’s at risk of being consolidated to the point where the magazine range becomes dominated by one distributor,” one individual warned.

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The loss of Aldi, and challenges with Lidl, come as the discounters rise in prominence, creating problems for publishers as shoppers switch from supermarkets with large magazine ranges to discounters with no or low numbers of titles.

Steve Hobbs leads specialist magazine distributor Magazine Heaven Direct and has extensive experience at Smiths News and publishers such as AutoTrader. Giving an example of the impact of the shift in habits, he told Better Retailing: “Customers who would have picked up Women & Home in Asda aren’t finding them on their shop now.”

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