Lidl's UK boss outlines his vision

an interview published in The Grocer, Lidl's UK MD Ronny Gottschlich has provided new insight into the discounter's strategy and future priorities. Here we summarise his key points.

Fresh increasingly key to the offer

“This year fresh accounts for 40% of turnover. I can see that growing to 50%. The more customers see fresh, the more they buy. Overall, we have increased the space dedicated to it by 40% and next year we will add even more. We are rolling out fresh fish as well, and all 600 stores will have bakeries by February next year,” Gottschlich said.

Expanding the range

Lidl has raised its SKU count from 1,450 to 1,600 this year and is aiming for 1,700 in 2014. The number of 'key brands' is also up (from 50 to 300). To make room for them, Lidl is cutting back on bulk pallets on the shop floor.

Vision for 1,500 stores

Lidl currently has 600 UK stores, would like to double this number and has a long term vision for 1,500 stores. To achieve this Lidl wants to return to its pre-recession store opening pace of 25-30 stores per year, up from 12 this year. Lidl's standard store size has doubled from 8 to 16,000 sq ft to accommodate the bigger range and there will be more focus on affluent locations - Sevenoaks and Dorking are among the latest store openings.

Strengthening premium ranges..

Lidl has expanded its Deluxe range from to 300 lines for this Christmas to include affordable luxury treats like legs of Serrano ham and whole lobsters. Commenting Gottschlich said: "We thought we wouldn’t be able to top last year, but this year has been unbelievable. We will hit £64m turnover from Deluxe alone."

.. but not losing sight of value

Gottschlich reaffirmed Lidl's commitment to Lidl's low cost, low price model pointing out that this reflects Lidl's ability to bulk buy across Europe, its limited range and intensive focus on efficiency. In March recently added a Simply... range of budget priced essentials to complete its good, better, best architecture.

First TV ad delivers impressive results

Gottschlich is very pleased with the shopper response to Lidl's first ever TV ad. "Three weeks in and we are seeing customer numbers up 18% and like-for-like sales are up 25%. It’s done fantastically well.” The £750,000 campaign ad uses as its soundtrack One Direction's Little Things, tweaked to Lidl things.

Increasing investment in UK

Lidl invested £170m in the UK in 2013 with over half of this funding an expanded fresh section in 450 stores. Next year, investment will rise to £220m, mostly allocated to new stores, store improvements and warehouses. Investment will rise to £300m in 2015 to "make sure we are future-proof and continue to gather momentum".


Source: IGD Retail Analysis, 2nd December 2013