A new report from Nielsen has examined the state of the supermarket sector in the UK, focusing on how much people can expect to spend when they place an order via safe shopping online or pick up items in-store for purchase.

Low price retailers, Aldi and Lidl, managed to undercut the ‘big four’ UK supermarkets, with average spends for shopping sessions involving over 20 items sitting at £39.11 and £38.41 respectively.

Meanwhile, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer sat at the upper end of the spending scale, with customers doing their big weekly shop at either expecting to spend at least £58.

Sainsbury’s sits below this level at just under £56, while Tesco’s £53.39 and Asda’s £51.73 averages show that some of the mainstream supermarkets are making greater efforts to compete with this new breed of bargain-based rivals.

Report spokesperson, Mike Watkins, pointed out that while these figures reveal the average spend, they do not take into account the fact that a typical basket at Waitrose will look very different from that of one in Aldi.

Interestingly, the study also backed up the idea that Brits are cutting down the frequency of their ‘big shops’ and instead make more regular visits to buy a smaller number of items. Concerns about food waste are now common, meaning people are less likely to want to buy items in bulk when they can simply get what they need in smaller volumes.

The one advantage that the ‘big four’ supermarkets have over the likes of Aldi and Lidl is the fact that they offer a wide range of e-commerce services, meaning people can order via safe shopping online and then use click and collect to receive their items without having to wander around picking them out by hand. For some, the ability to save time will trump the opportunity to save money.