Lidl will invest 400 million this year in opening 40 stores

The Lidl supermarket chain plans to invest 400 million euros in Spain this year for the opening of at least 40 stores. In recent years, the firm has faced an accelerated expansion plan leading to an increase in its territorial presence and an increase in revenue, even at the expense of profit at the end of the year. HUB of Lidl, Ferran Figueras, on Tuesday assured 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 ensured that normality did not cause the expected negative impact on food sales in 2021, thanks to customer loyalty. “strategy and adaptation to the needs of a new post-pandemic consumer, who has changed his habits and can pay more for local products. Those responsible for Lidl in Spain In recent years, they have made an effort to strengthen ties with local suppliers, farmers and farmers. In this way, they have managed to reduce costs by improving the overall image of the chain in a context of strong competition. In the absence of data provision over 2021, during a corseted press conference, Figueras acknowledged that Lidl’s sales increased by 9.7% to 4.825 million euros between 2019 and 2020, while increasing profits from 176 million to 151 million at the same time. has, with a decrease of 13%. Figueras attributed this lower advantage to the promotional effort to limit prices and the security measures that had to be implemented due to the pandemic. Lidl’s accounting therefore aimed at around 110 million euros in promotional sales and another 28 million in anticovid measures. Another 14 million euros was the wage bill. Lidl’s workforce was 139,000 jobs in 2020. For every direct job, Lidl generates approximately 7.2 indirect jobs, according to calculations by consulting firm PWC.

Lidl is the third chain through 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 about 6.7%. The data suggest that 60% of Spanish buyers go through Lidl at some point, thanks to the expansion plan that gave 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 state level, due to their commitment to new openings that boost their market share.