The Lidl supermarket chain plans to invest 400 million euros this year in Spain for the opening of at least 40 stores. In recent years, the firm has faced an accelerated expansion plan that is translating into an increase in its territorial presence and an increase in turnover, even at the expense of profit at the end of the year. CEO of Lidl, Ferran Figueras, assured on Tuesday that the firm is “making every effort to contain prices” in a context of rising costs. After a 2020 marked by the closure of hotels and restaurants, with the consequent transfer of spending from families to distribution chains, Figueras has assured that normality has not caused the expected negative impact on the sale of food products in in 2021 thanks to the “customer loyalty” strategy and the adaptation to the needs of a new post-pandemic consumer, who has changed his habits and is able to pay more for local products. Those responsible for Lidl in Spain They have made an effort in recent years to strengthen ties with local suppliers, ranchers and farmers. In this way they have managed to reduce costs by improving the general image of the chain in a context of strong competition. In the absence of giving data on 2021, during a corseted press conference, Figueras has confessed that between 2019 and 2020, Lidl’s sales increased by 9.7% to 4,825 million euros while at the same time profits increased from 176 million to 151 million, with a drop of 13%. Figueras has attributed this lower benefit to the promotional effort to contain prices and the security measures that had to be implemented as a result of the pandemic. Thus, Lidl’s accounting contemplated around 110 million euros in promotional sales and another 28 million in anticovid measures. Another 14 million euros were the wage bill. Lidl’s workforce was 139,000 jobs in 2020. For each direct job, Lidl generates around 7.2 indirect jobs, according to calculations by the consulting firm PWC.
Lidl is the third chain by sales in Spain, after Mercadona and Carefour. But according to Kantar data, it is one of the companies that grew the most last year, with a share of around 6.7%. The data indicates that 60% of Spanish buyers pass through Lidl at some point, thanks to the expansion plan that has given it great capillarity. Carrefour has a market share of 9% and Mercadona 25%. Together with the regional firms, Lidl and Aldi are the supermarket chains with the most dynamic growth rates at the state level, due to their commitment to new openings that are boosting their market share.