Overview

• Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg lodged an injunction on July 25 seeking to bar Lidl’s slogan “Sofort dauerhaft 500 Produkte günstiger” as misleading under the Lebensmittelinformationsverordnung and UWG.
• Lidl says it was unaware of the suit and insists the 500-product figure covers both national and regional price adjustments across its German stores.
• Price-comparison app Smhaggle and expert Stephan Rüschen found only about 270–300 discounted items, with shoppers saving on average roughly 2% per basket.
• Critics, including Armin Valet of Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg, argue Lidl has not published a full list of reduced products or detailed discount rates, hiding key information in fine print.
• Lidl’s May campaign prompted rivals like Aldi to cut prices too, intensifying Germany’s discounter price war and drawing sharper regulatory scrutiny of promotional claims.