Lidl

Lidl ( /ˈlɪdəl/ li-dəl or local /ˈliːdl/ lee-dəl) is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany that operates over 10,000 stores across Europe. The company's full name is Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG. It belongs to the holding company Schwarz Gruppe, which also owns the store chains Handelshof and hypermarket Kaufland.

Founded in the 1930s by a member of the Schwarz family [and called at the time Schwarz Lebensmittel-Sortimentsgroßhandlung (Schwarz Assorted wholesale Foods)], Lidl has – since the opening in 1973 of the first of its stores in their present incarnation – now established itself in over 20 countries in Europe. The name Lidl was the surname of a former business partner of Schwarz's, Ludwig Lidl, a retired schoolteacher, and Schwarz bought the rights to the name from him for 1,000 marks, as he could not use the name Schwarz Markt as it means 'black market' and would have negative associations. Lidl is part of the Schwarz Group, the 4th largest retailer in the world with sales of $82.4 billion (2011).^[2]

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, the Schwarz-Gruppe 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. Schwarz rigorously removed merchandise that did not sell from the shelves, and cut costs by keeping the size of the retail outlets as small as possible. By the year 1977, the Lidl chain comprised 33 discount stores.

Since establishing in the UK in 1994, Lidl has grown consistently and today has more than 580 stores throughout the UK. While it is still a small player in the UK market with a grocery market share of less than 5%, its importance along with that of continental no-frills competitor Aldi is growing.

Amongst other brands, Lidl owns the Silvercrest brand, which manufactures electronic products such as satellite and Freeview receivers.^[3]

Lidl is the chief competitor of the similar German discount chain Aldi.

Other services

In late October 2009 Lidl UK launched a DVD rental service 'Lidl Movies',^[4], undercutting Tesco DVD rental, which had previously been the UK's cheapest online DVD rental service.

The service is powered by OutNow DVD rental.^[5]

Lidl UK has also launched an online photo service, which prints photos and creates albums and photo gifts at discounted prices. ^[6]

Approach to retailing

Like fellow German supermarket Aldi, Lidl has a no-frills approach of keeping its products in the original delivery cartons, allowing the customers to take the product directly from the carton. When the carton is empty, it is simply replaced with a full one. The aisles are not decorated, the cartons are stacked on pallets, and staffing is minimal, so that a profit can still be made even though the prices are low. Together with Aldi, Lidl has carved out its own niche with this approach; while some shoppers may not like shopping in a bland or industrial-looking (and possibly congested) store, such a lack of frills has become part of the accepted norm with Lidl. In contrast to Aldi, there are generally more branded products on offer (but due to the small size of Lidl stores there are usually only a few different brands of product available), and while Lidl imports many low-priced gourmet foods from Europe, it also sources many local products from the country where the store is located. Like Aldi, Lidl has special weekly offers, and its stock of non-food items often changes with time, this being due to Lidl stores' small size. Lidl operates in many European countries (much of Eastern Europe, Italy and Greece as well as in Northern Ireland and Scandinavia) where rival Aldi does not operate. In contrast to Aldi, Lidl advertises extensively in its homeland of Germany and other countries.

Criticism of Lidl's treatment of its 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.^[7] While The Times notes that Lidl managers work excessive hours, being obliged to sign out of the working time directive when starting with the company, both The Guardian^[8] and The Times^[9] in the UK amongst other allegations have 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. Lidl management has denied the charges. In Italy, in 2003, a judge in Savona sentenced Lidl for anti-union policies, a crime in that country.^[10] Lidl has been criticised in the United Kingdom and Ireland for not allowing workers to join unions.

In March 2008 the German news magazine Stern released a cover story reporting systematic surveillance of Lidl workers, including the most intimate details of their private affairs.^[11][12][13]

Countries with Lidl branches

As of 2011, Lidl operates in every country of the EU except the Baltic states, and also in Croatia and Switzerland.

Current

Planned

Competitors

References

External links

• Official homepage (includes links to national sites)
• Yahoo! — Lidl & Schwarz Stiftung & Co. KG Company Profile
• Current stores number (German)