Lidl

Lidl in Middlesbrough, England

Lidl in Lomma, Sweden

Typical Lidl interior

Lidl activities

Lidl (pronounced as [lee-dhll]) is a European discount supermarket chain of German origin that operates 7,000 stores. In Germany, it is Aldi's main competitor. The full name of the company is Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG. It belongs to the holding company Schwarz, which also owns the store chains Handelshof and Kaufland.

Lidl (l-E-dl) has established itself in over 17 countries. It was founded in the 1930s by a member of the Schwarz family; then called Schwarz Lebensmittel-Sortimentsgrosshandlung. In the 1970s, the first Lidl stores of today's incarnation opened.

Lidl is not an abbreviation, but the last name of Ludwig Lidl, a retired teacher. In 1930, Josef Schwarz became a partner in Südfrüchte Grosshandel Lidl & Co., a fruit wholesaler, and he developed the company into a general food wholesaler. In 1977, under his son Dieter Schwarz, Lidl&Schwarz began to focus on discount markets, larger supermarkets, and cash and carry wholesale markets. The first Lidl discount store was opened in 1973, copying the Aldi concept. In 1977, the Lidl chain comprised 30 discount stores. Dieter Schwarz's problem was that he could not just start using the Lidl name. As Schwarz Markt (literally Black Market) did not seem a good idea, he bought the right to use the Lidl name from Ludwig for 1000 Deutsche Mark.

Store Layout

All Lidl stores follow the same basic layout flow with tins and carbonated drinks in the first aisle and alcohol in the last. The chiller always runs along the back wall of the store, with chilled convenience foods such as sandwiches, pasta salads and fruit in the first chiller bay. Older stores did not have aisle breaks (gaps in between the shelving) that ensured customers followed the flow of the store. This practice has been largely reduced with older stores being re-merchandised to accommodate these breaks. Fruit and vegetables are always in the first aisle of the store, as are bread and cakes.

Till Procedures

Till procedure is very similar between other German discount stores such as Aldi, cashiers are expected to be fast and accurate. Customers are expected to load all the shopping on the conveyor belt and place their trolley in a specific place, the cashier will often ensure this happens. The cashier will the scan the products through the till, this is sped up as the products often have multiple, large barcodes. Customers are encouraged to pack the shopping away from the till as this helps the cashier move onto the next customer, keeping customer flow high and the need for other cashiers low. Tills that aren’t being used have ‘gates’ to prevent customers walking through without paying.

Cashiers are required to learn a 5 digit product number and/or a 2 digit PLU number for every ‘non-scanning’ item, such as fruit and vegetables. This increases productivity for the cashier as there is no need to browse menus to find the correct product but can slow progress if they don’t know the correct number.

There is no customer service desk and as such any till can be used to process refunds or look up prices. This practice is protected by a lock on the tills keyboard that enables manager specific functions when unlocked.

Criticism of Lidl treatment of staff

Trade unions in Germany and other countries have repeatedly criticised Lidl for mistreatment of workers, breach of European directives on working time and other abuses. These have been published in the "Black Book on the Schwarz Retail Company" published in Germany and now available in English.^[2] The Guardian in the UK amongst other allegations has reported that Lidl spies on its workforce with cameras, makes extensive notes on employee behaviour, particularly focusing on attempting to sack female workers who might become pregnant and also forces staff at warehouses to do "piece-rate" work which is now illegal in the EU. Lidl management denied the charges. No public information is given on the Lidl website about how to contact Lidl senior management and the company hides its ownership structure behind an elaborate network of front companies.^[3] In Italy, in 2003, a judge in Savona sentenced Lidl for anti-union policies, a crime in that country.^[4]

In March 2008 the German news magazine "Stern" came up with a cover story reporting systematic surveillance of Lidl workers, including most intimate details of their private affairs.^[5][6][7]

Countries with Lidl branches

Current

Country	Number of Stores
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland	100
France	1350
Germany
Greece
Hungary	102
Ireland	105
Italy
Luxembourg
Malta	4
Netherlands	400
Norway	Sold to Reitangruppen—now REMA 1000 stores.
Poland
Portugal	210
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom	440 (approx)

Planned

Country	Opening	Notes
Romania [8]	2007 - 2009
Bulgaria		(postponed as of May 2006[update]) [9]
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Latvia
Lithuania
Mexico
Switzerland [10]
Canada [11]	2012

Competitors

References

External links

Corporate site

• Official homepage (includes links to national sites)

Data

• Yahoo! — Lidl & Schwarz Stiftung & Co. KG Company Profile

Critical references

• Every Lidl Hurts
• Ver.di's black book (German)
• Lidl demanded that Czech and Polish women workers wear special headbands during their monthly periods
• German hard discounter exposed as bad employer and threat to consumers and suppliers
• "LIDL STAFF ‘AFRAID TO COMPLAIN’?". Archived from the original on 2007-11-19.
• Current stores number (German)

Supermarkets in Ireland Chains Aldi • Dunnes Stores • Iceland • Lidl • Marks & Spencer • Superquinn • Tesco Ireland • The Cope Symbol groups Centra • Costcutter • Gala • Londis • Mace • Quick Pick • SPAR • SuperValu • Vivo • XL Stop & Shop Defunct Crazy Prices • H Williams • L&N • Quinnsworth

Supermarkets in the United Kingdom "Big Four" Asda • Morrisons • Sainsbury's • Tesco Major Chains The Co-operative Food • Marks & Spencer • Somerfield • Waitrose Discount Chains Aldi • Home Bargains • Lidl • Netto Frozen Food Specialists Farmfoods • Iceland Convenience Stores Costcutter • Londis • Nisa-Today's • SPAR • Premier Stores • Martin McColl Regional Booths • Budgens

Supermarkets in Denmark Aldi • Bilka • Brugsen • Edeka • Fakta • Føtex • Irma (supermarket) • Kvickly • Lidl • Netto (store) • SuperBest •SPAR • REMA 1000