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== Countries with Lidl branches ==
== 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.
As of 2011, Lidl operates in every country of the [[EU]] except the [[Baltic states]], 0


=== Current ===
=== Current ===

Revision as of 17:49, 6 June 2012

Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG
Company typePrivate
IndustryRetailing
Founded1930s
HeadquartersNeckarsulm, Germany
Area served
Global
Key people
Klaus Gehrig, Chairman
Karl-Heinz Holland, CEO
ProductsDiscount Store, Hypermarket/Supercenter/Superstore
RevenueIncrease US$ 82.4 billion (2011)[1]
Number of employees
178,741 (2019) Edit this on Wikidata
Websitelidl-info.com
Lidl Templemore North Tipperary Ireland
A Lidl store in Middlesbrough, UK
A Lidl store in Lomma, Sweden
A typical Lidl interior
A fake Lidl store in Egypt (the company does not officially trade here)
Lidl store in a former railway station in Newcastle, Northern Ireland.
A Lidl store in Police, Poland
European countries in which Lidl is active

Lidl (/[invalid input: 'icon']ˈlɪdəl/ LI-dəl or locally /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] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (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 Josef Schwarz's, Ludwig Lidl, a retired schoolteacher, and Josef's son Dieter Schwarz bought the rights to the name from him for 1,000 marks, as he could not use the name Schwarz Markt which, as 'Schwarzmarkt' means 'black market', would have negative associations. Lidl is part of the Schwarz Group, the 5th 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] OutNow went into liquidation in October 2011 taking Lidl Movies with it.[6]

Lidl UK has also launched an online photo service, which prints photos and creates albums and photo gifts at discounted prices. [7]

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. 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. In contrast to Aldi, there are generally more branded products on offer 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. 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. They have also sponsered Potters Bar Swimming Club in the United Kingdom.

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.[8] 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[9] and The Times[10] 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.[11] 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.[12][13][14]

Countries with Lidl branches

As of 2011, Lidl operates in every country of the EU except the Baltic states, 0

Current

Country Number of Stores
 Austria 197[15]
 Belgium ~300
 Bulgaria 55
 Croatia 76[16]
 Czech Republic 220
 Cyprus 12
 Denmark 83
 Finland 137
 France 1,500
 Germany 3,300
 Greece 207
 Hungary 141
 Ireland 160
 Italy 550
 Luxembourg 6
 Malta 5
 Netherlands 340
 Norway Sold to Reitangruppen—now REMA 1000 stores.
 Poland 525[17]
 Portugal 210
 Romania 137
 Slovakia 110
 Slovenia 36[18]
 Spain 500
 Sweden 151
  Switzerland 65
 United Kingdom 580

Planned

Country Opening Notes
 Lithuania[19] 2013 First Lidl mall will be opened in city of Alytus[20]
 Serbia[21] First Lidl store will be open in city of Zrenjanin

Competitors

Store Stores Country
Aldi (Hofer) 8,210 Europe, USA, Australia
Tesco
Netto 1,200 Europe
Biedronka 1,500 Poland
Netto Marken-Discount 4,000 Germany
Penny Market[22] 5,000 Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Italy
Iceland 682 United Kingdom, Ireland
Norma >1,300 Germany, Austria, France, Czech Republic
Dia, in Portugal Minipreço, in France Dia 2,566 Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, France
Eurospin Italy, Slovenia
Denner Switzerland
Maxima 430 Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria
UGO (New discount stores operated by Haldanes) United Kingdom

References

  1. ^ http://subscribers.supermarketnews.com/mag/sns_top_worldwide_4/index.html
  2. ^ http://subscribers.supermarketnews.com/mag/sns_top_worldwide_4/index.html
  3. ^ "Silvercrest Multimedia". Silvercrest Multimedia Lidl. Retrieved 20 August 2010. Silvercrest is a brand of Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG, Stiftsbergstr. 1, D-74167 Neckarsulm
  4. ^ http://www.which.co.uk/news/2009/10/lidl-supermarket-starts-cheap-dvd-rental-service-187138.jsp
  5. ^ http://www.choosedvdrental.co.uk/dvd-rental-review/lidl-movies.asp
  6. ^ http://www.empiremovieclub.co.uk/
  7. ^ http://www.lidl-photos.co.uk
  8. ^ "Black Book on Lidl in English" (pdf).
  9. ^ Helen Pidd "Cheap but not so cheerful", The Guardian, 14 March, 2007
  10. ^ R. Boyes "Lidl the big brother supermarket is watching you", The Times, 27 March 2008
  11. ^ "Il tribunale di Savona condanna Lidl Italia per comportamento antisindacale". Il Magazine. 9 July 2003. Template:It icon
  12. ^ stern.de - Überwachungsskandal bei Lidl (video) Template:De icon
  13. ^ stern.de - Entsetzen über Lidls Stasi-Methoden Template:De icon
  14. ^ stern.de - Zitate aus den Lidl-Protokollen Template:De icon
  15. ^ "Lidl Austria Company Profile". Retrieved 2009-10-27.
  16. ^ "Lidl opens 76th store in Croatia". Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  17. ^ "Lidl Polska Online".
  18. ^ "Lidl Online Slovenia Store List". Retrieved 2009-06-03. [dead link]
  19. ^ [1]
  20. ^ „Lidl“ savo planus Alytuje patvirtino sutartimi
  21. ^ http://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/srbija.php?yyyy=2011&mm=10&dd=21&nav_id=551213
  22. ^ [2]
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