Discount grocery retailer Lidl is plotting an expansion drive that will result in it more than doubling in size in the UK.
The chain's UK managing director Ronny Gottschlich told The Sunday Telegraph that grocery shopping is entering a “new era”, and that the retailer wants to expand from 600 stores at present to up to 1,500.
He said that what he called “Maidstone Mums”, who were once too embarrassed to be seen in Lidl stores, now realise that the chain offers good value and quality.
Gottschlich told the Telegraph's Sunday edition: “We really see ourselves these days more of a supermarket than the hard discounter of the past. Those times are over. We are now a supermarket. We offer the best quality for the least.”
The growth plans highlight the threat that Lidland its rival, Aldi, pose to the established 'big four' supermarkets – Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.
Lidl's like-for-likes sales are growing by 18 per cent year-on-year, and it is increasingly attracting shoppers from a wider range of socio-economic groups.
Along with discount prices, another part of the attraction to discount retailers is the range of fresh fruit and vegetables on offer.
Gottschlich said: “I actually do think we are entering a new era. It is obviously different in every country how long it could take for customers’ behaviours to start changing.
“I think that people’s perception in the past, and this is something that is definitely changing, is there must be something wrong with the quality of what those people at Lidl offer because they have such reasonable pricing in their stores.
“It is difficult to explain why it can be that a product at Lidl is that price and then at another retailer is 30, 40, 50 per cent more expensive. We want to make sure we get that explained.”
Lidl plans to spend £170 million this year on opening new stores and installing bakeries within its existing sites.
Annual investment is likely to rise to £300 million within two years, as Lidl accelerates from opening 15 to 20 stores per year to at least 30 to 40 stores.
Gottschlich told The Sunday Telegraph: “If I could have 1,200 in the next three years then I would have it in the next three years. But it is clear that the quality of the sites must not be lost. There are no restrictions to the openings we can do in a year. The funding is there.”
As for “Maidstone Mums”, he added: “The Maidstone Mum is someone who probably previously would have thought, 'I can’t be seen in a Lidl store’. Those Maidstone Mums are no longer afraid of being seen in a Lidl store.”
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