The retailer has already inaugurated 13 stores, including two early this week, and announced it was building a further 15. Company officials did not say how many of the new stores would be opened this year and how many next year.
“Lidl network currently numbers 120 stores and we will soon open 15 more, some of them by the end of this year, and others in 2012. It is too soon to confirm final data now,” Lidl representatives say.
However, media agency Initiative, part of the Lowe group, which developed and implemented Lidl’s first media campaign nationwide, said that “the Lidl network will number over 125 stores by yearend and thus become the largest modern retailer with national coverage by number of stores.”
The German-held retailer will open two more stores built from the ground up in Slatina, Olt County and Ploiesti, Prahova County (southern Romania) on Monday, November 7, expanding the chain to 122 stores. The second- and third-largest networks are Penny Market (121 stores) and Profi (103).
German discount chain Lidl entered Romania last year when it bought the 107 Plus Discount stores, which it rebranded this year. Lidl officials would not reveal the value of the investments in rebranding and openings but ZF estimates them to be in the range of dozens of millions of euros.
The officials will not provide details about the sales, either, because “Lidl’s history in Romania is just beginning and it is much too early to discuss the sales trend.”
They admit, however, that Lidl customers mostly buy its private label products, such as Pilos (dairy), Pikok (cold cuts), Bluedino (dairy) and Fruitjumbo (fruit yogurt). Eighty percent of the products available in Lidl stores are private labels, while brand name products are only stocked if customers request it. Private labels account for 20% to 30% of the total products in other retailers’ chains.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)