Coop vs Lidl in Switzerland: What Your Real Shopping Costs

On raw base prices Lidl is lower than Coop, but by less than many expect. In K-Tipp's 100-item basket (issue 14/2025, 28 August 2025) Coop came to CHF 250.70 and Lidl to CHF 232.83, so Coop was 7.7 percent more expensive. In the RTS A Bon Entendeur 30-item Geneva basket of April 2024 the gap was 3.6 percent (Coop CHF 167.82, Lidl CHF 162.05). That is only half the answer: Coop runs weekly Aktion cycles in which household and pantry categories rotate. A workable routine: Lidl as the weekly base, Coop when an Aktion on something you buy makes the trip worth it. This guide gives the test data, the range comparison, Lidl Plus against Supercard and a weekly playbook.

Sources checked regularly: K-Tipp 100-item basket (issue 14/2025, 28 August 2025); RTS A Bon Entendeur 30-item basket (April 2024, reported by watson.ch on 21 April 2024); retailer information on coop.ch, lidl.ch and supercard.ch. The current promotions are in the Rappn app.

Rappn is an independent grocery price comparison app in Switzerland, with no commercial agreements with any retailer.

The base-price evidence: Lidl is lower, but the gap is smaller than you'd think

Sources: K-Tipp basket comparison (28 August 2025); RTS «A Bon Entendeur» (April 2024). Both tests select the cheapest available product in each store.

The K-Tipp gap (about CHF 18 on a CHF 250 basket) is the more representative figure because it covers more categories. The RTS spread is smaller: CHF 5.77 over 30 items, less than CHF 0.20 per item. Coop's Prix Garantie line explains much of that: in the same issue K-Tipp reported that M-Budget and Prix Garantie prices are now level with Aldi and Lidl on many basic products.

As an illustration: for a household spending CHF 700 a month at Coop, a 7.7 percent gap on a like-for-like basket is roughly CHF 50 a month. The categories where the gap widens or narrows matter more than the headline figure.

Where each store is strong

The headline figure hides differences between categories. Here is the neutral breakdown.

Where Lidl is usually lower on like-for-like items:

• Private-label staples: pasta, rice, oil, sugar, basic dairy, basic snacks. Outside Coop's Aktion weeks, Lidl's own brands sit at discounter level.
• Fresh meat at full price: Lidl's regular meat prices usually sit below Coop's standard line; heavy meat Aktion weeks at Coop are the exception.
• Bakery: Lidl bakes in store, with Ruchbrot, butter croissants and milk rolls at discount prices.
• Wine and spirits: Lidl's wine range is priced at discount level; Coop has more variety at higher prices.

Where Coop can come out lower or offers more (often in Aktion weeks):

• Household goods in Aktion weeks: branded toilet paper and detergent, for example Zewa and Ariel, go on promotion at Coop. Check the current offer rather than a remembered price.
• Specialty ranges: Naturaplan organic, the Fine Food premium range and ProSpecieRara heritage products. Lidl carries an organic line too, with a far smaller range.
• Branded products in Coop brand promotions (Coca-Cola, Knorr, Nutella and others), often with Supercard activation.
• Online ordering and delivery: Coop runs a full online supermarket on coop.ch; Lidl Schweiz has no comparable grocery delivery.

One caution on the wider gaps sometimes quoted for specialty items: one K-Tipp basket did show a gap that wide, a 2019 test of 30 items in which Coop was 62.2 percent above Lidl (CHF 87.22 against CHF 53.77, as reported by Blick on 17 January 2019). In the K-Tipp baskets from 2022 to 2025 that we could check, the largest gap was around a quarter, and that is the headline the magazine ran in 2022, «Aldi fast ein Viertel günstiger als Coop». In K-Tipp's 40-item basket (prices of end of March 2024, with Coop's total as corrected by K-Tipp in issue 8/2024) Lidl came out at CHF 66.64 against Coop CHF 82.27, about 19 percent below (our calculation). The direction still holds: buying specialty items at full Coop price widens your gap to a discounter well beyond the everyday-staples figure.

The loyalty cards: Lidl Plus vs Supercard

Both stores have free loyalty programmes, but they work differently.

Lidl Plus (free app, scan at checkout):

• Personalised coupons on selected items
• Points: 1 per franc spent, redeemable for vouchers
• Automatic discount activation at checkout
• "Coupons Plus" offers rotate through the app; Lidl does not publish a fixed refresh day, so check the app rather than a weekday

Supercard (free card or Coop app):

• Points: 100 points worth CHF 1; how many points a purchase earns depends on the purchase amount (Supercard terms)
• Personalised coupons in the Coop app
• Supercard prices on selected items each week
• Collectable at coop.ch and across the partner network: Coop City, Coop to go, Coop Pronto, Coop Restaurant, Coop Vitality, Jumbo, Interdiscount, Fust, microspot.ch, Import Parfumerie, CHRIST, Livique/Lumimart, The Body Shop and ITS Coop Travel; supercard.ch keeps the current list

How much either card returns in a year depends on your spend and on how many coupons you activate; neither chain publishes an average, and neither programme closes the base-price gap on its own. The loyalty side matters most where you already shop; it is not a reason to switch your main store.

Assortment depth: where Coop's premium is real

Lidl Schweiz carries roughly 1,500 to 2,000 products per store. Coop carries 20,000 to 25,000 in a standard supermarket and more than 30,000 in a Coop Megastore.

What Coop has that Lidl doesn't:

• Several variants of most products (3-4 olive oils, 5-6 pasta brands, full international cuisine ranges)
• Extensive organic depth (Naturaplan, Naturafarm, ProSpecieRara, Karma vegetarian/vegan)
• Specialty cheese counter, butcher counter, fresh fish, in-store bakery with regional specialties
• Fine Food premium private label
• A wider international and ethnic foods range
• Most specialty diet ranges (gluten-free, lactose-free, plant-based) at scale

What Lidl has that Coop doesn't:

• Consistently low base prices (no premium tier pulling up the average)
• Lidl Plus instant discounts at checkout
• An in-store bakery at discount prices
• Fast-rotating non-food specials (weekly offers on tools, clothing, household)
• Ruchbrot and other breads at discount price points

For a single-person household with a focused list, Lidl's narrower range is usually enough. For a household with dietary needs, frequent specialty cooking or a preference for Swiss regional and heritage products, Coop's range can be worth the few percent more.

Compare the Coop and Lidl promotions every week.
Rappn shows the current Coop and Lidl promotions side by side, with the unit price, so you see what each chain has on offer this week and whether a Coop Aktion is worth the detour.

The combination: Lidl as the base, Coop for Aktion weeks

The most useful conclusion from the data: you do not have to pick one store; combine them. A routine a price-aware household can follow:

Base shop at Lidl (every 1-2 weeks):

• Pasta, rice, oil, sugar, basic dairy, eggs (own-brand discount line)
• Fresh meat for the week
• Bread from the in-store bakery
• Standard fruit and vegetables (in season)

Coop run when an Aktion makes the trip worth it:

• Household goods on promotion (toilet paper, kitchen paper)
• Detergent and cleaning supplies on Aktion (Ariel, Persil, Mr. Proper)
• Coffee and pantry stock-ups when Coop runs brand promotions
• Specialty and organic items Lidl does not carry

A threshold rule: make the Coop detour only if the Aktion saves you roughly CHF 15 or more on a category you already buy. Below that, time and travel eat the saving.

How much the combination saves depends on your basket. For the base shop, the K-Tipp gap above (7.7 percent) gives the order of magnitude, and you keep access to the range that an all-Lidl routine gives up.

The honest verdict

On K-Tipp's basket of August 2025, Coop was 7.7 percent more expensive than Lidl. For household stock-ups, Coop's Aktion weeks can bring deep discounts on brands. Use Lidl as your weekly base and add Coop when this week's Aktion clears about CHF 15 on a category you already buy.

It is a rule of thumb, not a guarantee: the promotions change every week, so check them before you decide where to shop.