LIDL: Big in UK – even bigger in London
Many analysts and experts laughed at Lidl when the German chain first established in Great Britain in 1994. Now the chain has a market share of 7.6 percent in GB and no less than 9.1 percent in London!
Lidl has overtaken Asda to become the third-biggest supermarket operator in London according to Kantar, a consulting company.
Lidl now has more than 960 stores and 14 regional distribution centres and employing over 31,000 people in Great Britain. Few or no-one would have believed in such results at the start in 1994.
Quite the contrary, there were many who were extremely negative about Lidl at that time. England had the world's best supermarkets! So, who will shop in a German hard discounter? This writer was, I must admit, in on that “caboose.”
Over 100 London stores
Lidl now has over 100 stores within London and more than double the market share of any other discount supermarket. The retailer has previously committed £500m to grow its presence in the region and says that it plans to continue its expansion across the capital - with plans for 200 stores, according to Namnews.
Property owners in Earls Court, Westminster, Kings Cross, and even Knightsbridge can look forward to the possibilities of good deals with the German family-owned giant, if we are to believe Namnews.
Early next year, Lidl is set to open another store in East Ham, and it has started construction at its Newbury Park and Bellingham sites.
“Many more locations”
"We have a clear commitment to providing shoppers with the very best value, and becoming the third-largest supermarket in London reinforces our dedication to ensuring that everyone can eat affordable, high-quality food, no matter where they live," says Ryand McDonnell, CEO of Lidl GB.
"We know convenience plays a huge factor when choosing where to shop in the city, which is why we're pushing on with plans to bring many more locations to the capital in the future."
Regional Distribution Centres make efficient logistics
In September Lidl officially opened its largest Regional Distribution Center (RDC) in the world in Luton to service 150 stores in and around the capital. The £300m warehouse covers 1.2 million sq. ft., 120.000 sq. meters.
The site in Houghton Regis, Luton, will be delivering over 9,400 pallets a day across 150 stores. This compares to its existing distribution centres, which service between 60 and 80 stores. It is also the first Lidl GB warehouse to feature automation, helping to store more goods and increase capacity at the distribution centre.
"The opening of this new RDC in Luton is a seminal moment for Lidl GB. Demand for Lidl has never been higher, and we are seeing an increasing number of people walk through our doors to make savings on every shop," says Richard Taylor, Chief Development Officer at Lidl in England.
"The fact that Lidl's largest RDC in the world is here in Great Britain speaks for itself not only in terms of us needing to meet the growing demand from customers, but also in terms of our ambition to grow that demand in the future. It is a spectacular state-of-the-art site that our team has worked incredibly hard on to get to where we are today. It has the capacity to service 150 stores, which is triple the amount of some of our existing warehouses, demonstrating the true scale of our ambition and growth potential.”
Sources: Lidl, Nam, Kantar.