TikTok Shop Goes Direct as Lidl Passes £13bn

TikTok is keeping checkout and customer data inside the app with Buy Direct, and TikTok Shop's UK sales are heading for close to €5 billion this year. Add retailers' very different rules on AI shopping agents, and today's Decoding Retail shows who is taking control of the sale, alongside Lidl passing £13 billion and Aldi going live on Deliveroo.

Sources:

- Retail Gazette: Lidl pushes annual sales past £13bn and prepares to open more than 50 stores https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2026/10/lidl-sales-hit-13bn-as-it-gains-ground-on-aldi-with-50-store-push/

- Retail Times: Aldi launches rapid delivery via Deliveroo, starting at eight stores with around 2,000 products https://retailtimes.co.uk/aldis-new-rapid-delivery-service-with-deliveroo-launches-tomorrow-6th-october/

- Talking Retail: AF Blakemore grows its Snappy Shopper estate from 95 to 167 Spar stores in two months https://www.talkingretail.com/featured/af-blakemore-expands-snappy-shopper-partnership-05-10-2026/

- Talking Retail: Convenience sales grew 0.6% against 2.9% inflation. Real volumes are falling. https://www.talkingretail.com/opinion/talking-points/what-symbol-groups-and-suppliers-can-do-for-independents-on-a-0-6-year-viewpoint-riddhi-parekh-05-10-2026/

- Grocery Gazette: Sainsbury's launches a drive for 17,500 Christmas seasonal roles across its estate https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2026/10/05/sainsburys-set-to-recruit-17500-christmas-roles/

- PYMNTS: Retailers Are Drawing Lines on AI Agent Access, and the Lines Are Very Different https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2026/ai-agents-knock-retailers-decide-how-wide-to-open-the-door/

- PYMNTS: TikTok Launches In-App Checkout and AI Shopping Assistant as First Moves in an Agentic Commerce Stack https://www.pymnts.com/commerce/social-commerce/2026/tiktok-kicks-off-agentic-commerce-push-with-ai-shopping-assistant/

- Modern Retail / Grocery Dive: Albertsons Media Collective Loses Its SVP After One Year https://www.modernretail.co/marketing/brian-monahan-exits-albertsons-media-collective-amid-leadership-shake-up/

- Retail Dive: GLP-1 Adoption Is Rewriting Consumer Behaviour Across Apparel, Sizing, and Online Shopping https://www.retaildive.com/news/glp1-users-apparel-retailers-rethink-everything-returns-davids-bridal/831835/

- Retail Dive: Gap Launches Conversational Shopping Agents Across Three Banners Simultaneously https://www.retaildive.com/news/gap-ai-assisted-shopping-three-decades-after-website/832070/

- RetailDetail EU: Rising incomes, falling retail spend: Europe's purchasing power paradox https://www.retaildetail.eu/news/general/europeans-earn-more-but-spend-less-in-stores/

- Retail Insight Network: Aldi posts 5% sales growth as operating profit slips https://www.retail-insight-network.com/features/aldi-sales-rise-5-as-operating-profit-slips/

- ESM Magazine: Salling Group acquires Proshop to close the Nordic e-commerce gap https://www.esmmagazine.com/retail/salling-group-to-acquire-online-retailer-proshop-323026

- Ecommerce News Europe: TikTok Shop's UK lead over Europe is widening, not closing https://ecommercenews.eu/tiktok-shop-still-much-bigger-in-the-uk-than-elsewhere-in-europe/

- RetailDetail EU: GLP-1 drugs are rewriting fashion retail's size assumptions https://www.retaildetail.eu/news/fashion/how-weight-loss-medications-are-changing-the-buying-behavior-of-fashion-shoppers/