Discount retailer Lidl’s £4.99 lobsters are proving popular as consumers try to hunt out the biggest bargains during the credit crunch.
A spokesman at the company said the lobsters are beginning to “fly off the shelves” and the deal is targeted especially at consumers in the run-up to Christmas.
Marco Ivone said that there are only a “finite number” of the lobsters and that when supplies run out, no more will be available.
He added that the supermarket expects its rivals to hit back with a number of their own promotions, when they realise that they have been caught “on the hop”.
But he said Lidl has not begun a campaign as a result of the economic climate and is instead just carrying on its long-term pricing.
“People are more price conscious but we’re not doing anything different since we came to the UK in 1994,” he said.
Tesco hit back, making its own frozen lobster available for £6.
Director general at the British Retail Consortium Stephen Robertson last week said that deep discounting is putting pressure on retailer’s margins. This was following the news that trading conditions are getting worse for retailers.
