Aldi and Lidl just hit another milestone in their huge assault on British supermarkets

Everyone knows that Lidl and Aldi are killing it in the UK supermarket industry right now. Both German discounters are consistently growing market share and profits, and are opening new stores. They're even paying their staff more than the larger and more established supermarkets.

But on Tuesday, Aldi and Lidl hit a new milestone - they now control a combined 10% of the UK's grocery market for the first time.

Figures released by consumer research firm Kantar Worldpanel show that in the 12 weeks up to November 8, Lidl increased its market share to 4.4%, while Aldi managed to maintain 5.6% of the market for the fifth month running. The rise of both discounters means that they now control nearly as much of the UK grocery market as Morrisons, which has a 10.8% slice of the market.

Both German stores have also managed double digit sales growth, Lidl up by 19%, and Aldi by 16.5%. They've also managed to increase the amount shoppers are spending when they come into store.

In a statement on its website Kantar Worldpanel's Head of Retail and Consumer Insight Fraser McKevitt said "In the last 12 weeks the two retailers have attracted another additional million shoppers compared with last year while average spend per trip has increased by 4% to £18.85, which is 78p ahead of the total retailer average.

"The discounters show no sign of stopping and with plans to open hundreds of stores between them, they'll noticeably widen their reach to the British population."

Lidl and Aldi's rise to domination in the British grocery market has been pretty rapid. Only twelve years ago, the two stores controlled just 2.5% of the grocery market combined, and it took them until 2012 to double that to 5%. Doubling market share again in just three years is no mean feat considering the huge competition in the industry, and falling food prices.

Other insights from Kantar's survey show that Sainsbury's is the only supermarket managing to keep up with the German chains, and has now taken back its place as the second biggest supermarket in Britain, overtaking Asda. Crucially, it was also the only of the so-called 'big four' supermarkets to grow its market share.

McKevitt said "Sainsbury's has seen its fourth consecutive period of growth, flying in the face of tough market conditions. It's 1.5% increase in sales was sufficiently ahead of the market for the retailer to increase its share by 0.2 percentage points - the first share gain registered by any of the 'big four' retailers since October 2014."

Along with its research, Kantar Worldpanel has created a pretty handy infographic to show how market shares in the supermarket sector have changed recently.

As well as growing its market share for another month, Lidl also announced on Tuesday that it has signed a long term partnership with the English, Scottish, and Welsh FAs to be their official supermarket. The deal will see the supermarket supply players and staff with fish, vegetables and fruit whilst playing for their countries.