Lidl entered thus the highly price sensitive retail market in Romania, estimated at around EUR20 billion per year, by rebranding Plus stores. The Germans also started construction works on tens of new stores, which might open in September, market sources say.
Lidl will fight the main battle on the segment of discounters, which ZF puts at around EUR1.8-2 billion, alongside Profi (owned by private equity firm Enterprise Investors), Macro, the former Minimax (controlled by Dinu Patriciu), Kaufland (which is part of Lidl & Schwartz, the same group with Lidl), Penny and Penny XXL (Rewe Group).
The six retailers (including Plus) had over 400 stores countrywide in early 2011. The discounter segment is the only modern retail segment covering all Romania’s counties.
Lidl is part of the German Lidl & Schwartz group, which also owns the Kaufland network in Romania. Plus opened its first stores on the local market in 2005 and posted over EUR300 million in sales in 2009.