The company part of the Lidl-Schwarz group will therefore reach 183 stores in Romania, 107 of which acquired from Plus and 76 new investments.
“We will keep the expansion pace,” says Maksymilian Braniecki, Lidl Romania chairman, in order to serve as many customers in as many parts of the country as possible.
Investment in a Lidl store, ZF has learnt, stands at about EUR1 million, which includes the land and the construction of the store.
Lidl has been going to both major cities, Bucharest included, and cities of 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants. The latter are Lidl’s target because hypermarkets and cash & carry chains avoid them. They are only a battleground for discount stores and sometimes for discount stores and supermarkets.
Penny Market and Lidl are the only discount store chains in Romania.
“We will continue to focus on Lidl brands,” Braniecki said.
Lidl has some of the lowest prices in local retail, according to a survey by the Competition Council.
The entry of Lidl in 2011 changed the business model of local retail, as 80% of the products it sells in its stores are private label products. This is the German retailer’s business model on all the markets it operates on. Private labels account for less than 50% of any the products sold by any other store chain.
The main advantage of private label products is their price, by as much as 30% lower in some cases, because of low packaging and marketing costs.
The crisis that eroded the Romanian consumers’ purchasing power in the last few years made them turn to cheaper products, using price as the main factor in their decision to buy one thing or another instead of brand as they once used to.
This change in spending habits helped Lidl’s business, which has been constantly rising, its officials say without providing figures.
Lidl representatives say that even though they cannot reveal sales volumes, the revenue has seen significant growth since entering this market. Moreover, the progress in 2013 put Lidl among the largest retailers in Romania.
Lidl did not file its 2012 report, but according to a report of the Competition Council at the end of last year, it beat chains like Real and Auchan, and therefore revenue stood at more than EUR650 million.
Its 2011 revenue reached EUR400 million at best, which means an over 64% growth in 2012. The retail market leader is Kaufland, which posted some EUR1.45 billion revenue in 2012, according to the latest data available.
Lidl opened 14 stores for a total of 169 last year, slowing down compared with 2012, when it opened 26.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)