Discount stores save you just £5 a month

Bargain-hungry shoppers flocking to Aldi and Lidl may be surprised to discover they are saving an average of just £5 a month.

According to a new survey, 58% of Aldi customers and 52% of Lidl customers shop at the discounters primarily to save money. However, they have an average monthly spend of £235 - just £5 lower than customers of other supermarkets.

The reason, according to Impact Research, is that most people use the discount stores for topping-up or buying specific items, rather than for a main monthly shop.

By comparison, more than half of Tesco customers say they use the store for their 'big shop'.

And Lidl and Aldi shoppers tend to shop around more than most, using an average of five different grocery retailers, rather than the three used by non-discount shoppers.

"This would mean that customers are not making huge savings as they are only buying a small proportion of their shopping here," say the researchers.

"This may change in the future, as 21% of Aldi and Lidl customers claim they will shop there more frequently than in the past four months, meaning that the proportion of their monthly grocery spend on groceries spent in discounters is likely to rise."

Whilst discount shoppers saw Aldi and Lidl as beating the big four on value and price, many were dissatisfied with their store layout and smaller range of products.

But all those top-up shops are doing the trick for the discounters. Last week, new figures from Kantar Worldpanel revealed that Aldi and Lidl now have a market share of 5.6% and 4.0% respectively - a record high for both companies.

But grocery prices are falling across the board, says Kantar, as retailers cut prices fiercely to compete.

"Comparable groceries are now 1.6% cheaper than a year ago, meaning prices have been falling since September 2014, although they are projected to start rising again by early 2016," says Fraser McKevitt, Kantar's head of retail and consumer insight.

Read more on AOL Money:

Lidl plans new HQ as it reports record turnover

Aldi & Lidl beat bigger rivals in taste test

Aldi named as sponsor of British Olympic team