Lidl, which entered the Romanian market last year through the acquisition of the 107 Plus Discount stores, on Thursday held its first press conference for the launch of an image campaign, in which the company also announced its expansion strategy for the first time.
The event was also attended by the heads of Lidl operations in Romania, about whom not much was known until then.
The four major Lidl leaders, who attended Thursday’s conference, are Friedrich Fuchs (president of the managing board), Gabor Teleki (member of the administrative managing board), Marek Bona (merchandise acquisition manager) and Sergiu Fala (expansion manager).
Two of the Lidl stores to be opened on Monday are in Bucharest, while the rest will be in Campulung, Dragasani, Focsani, Giurgiu, Pitesti, Selimbar, Timisoara, Turda and Zalau.
But Lidl’s expansion doesn’t end here, with the company having another 17 stores under construction, in cities such as Suceava and Constanta, some of which are set to open by the end of the year. When the 135 are opened, the company will have covered all counties.
Company representatives did not wish to specify the value of investments in these new stores, but said they were targeting two types of stores, covering 1,065 and 1,286 square meters, respectively.
“We are now targeting cities with above 30,000 residents, we are going to see how the stores are received and afterwards we may raise or lower this target,” said Sergiu Fala, expansion manager within Lidl Romania. He also said when Romanians’ purchasing power rises, the German group will also turn towards 20,000-resident towns.
On Thursday company representatives announced for the first time that 80% of Lidl products are private labels, with Romanian suppliers including large companies in the food industry, such as CrisTim, Albalact, Angst, Vel Pitar, Titan and Tymbark Maspex. The ratio of private label products in Lidl’s overall portfolio is high compared with other retail chain, where their ratio doesn’t exceed 20-30% of all products.
“We continue to work on developing our range of products. Currently two thirds of the overall products we sell come from Romanian suppliers,” said Marek Bona, merchandise acquisitions manager.
Company representatives have provided no information on the company’s financial results.