Among other things, the Finnish staff, credit cards not working and strange cash registers confused the Finns.
The Lidl museum exhibits old newspaper articles and advertisements from 20 years ago. Wind Lindgren
The arrival of the Lidl chain in Finland 20 years ago confused both the media and consumers. The cheap prices aroused speculation and wonder even before the stores opened, and the chain’s scarce information policy was admired and criticized even on television news.
In the A-plus program, the appearance of a package of jogging sausages sold in Lidl was examined and we wondered whether it looks suspicious.
When the first ten Lidl stores opened on August 29, 2002 in Forssa, Kemi, Iisalmi, Kemi, Jyväskylä, Kaarina, Kempele, Kouvola, Lappeenranta, Pirkkala and Äänekoski, long lines gathered in front of the doors. People immediately wanted to see what the German grocery store wonder looks like.
“Yes, you can also speak Finnish to us”
Lidl’s operating models and product range initially caused a lot of confusion.
“The biggest surprise at the time was that the staff is from Finland. They came to speak English to us, and we threw back that they can speak Finnish to us too.”
This is what shop manager Kirsi recalls in the pop-up museum erected in honor of the anniversary.
The store’s product selection also confused consumers. On the shelves we found products foreign to Finns, which never took off and slowly left the selection or moved to the cold shelf. These included, for example, naks preserved in a glass jar, which can be kept warm, and UHT yogurt.
Helsingin Sanomat reported the day after the opening with the title “Lidl was cheap but offered strange goods”. Pohjolan Sanomat, on the other hand, reported in its newspaper on August 30, 2002 that the Mysterious Lidl opened in Kemi.
“Do you have milk for sale? Crazy questions. People thought we were a weird delicatessen, and the real food would be found in other stores. Little by little, people learn that we sell normal food: meat, bread and milk, and there is no need to go to another store separately”,
This is how store manager Mia, who worked at Lidl’s headquarters’ pop-up museum for 20 years, remembers.
This is what the meat and bread sections of Lidl stores looked like 20 years ago. Wind Lindgren
Delicatessen or grocery store?
Finns quickly found a selection of drinks and sweets at Lidl. Saskia-vissy and Freeway soft drinks quickly became hits, as did orange and apple juice in glass bottles, cow toffee and chocolate bananas. These have remained in Lidli’s selections to this day.
It was appropriate to pick up sweets and drinks from Lidl, but doing business in a “cheap store” otherwise could even be embarrassing.
The fact that you couldn’t pay with a credit card in Lidl also caused confusion. At first, only the chain’s own bottles could be returned to the stores, but that changed as soon as 2003, when the chain joined Palpa.
However, perhaps the biggest controversy was caused by the central European short cash desks, which annoyed Finns who were used to long belts. In the end, Ketjun had no choice but to give in to the customers’ wishes, and in 2007, the cash register belts began to be changed to longer ones.
Over the years, changes have taken place both in the appearance of the stores and in the selection. Communications Manager Pilvi-Sisko Riikonen highlights the changes, particularly the increase of freshness and domesticity. Today, the chain’s standard selection includes 2,500 products, and the degree of domesticity is a good 50 percent.