Lidl to open hundreds more stores to take on big grocers

LIDL is to open hundreds more supermarkets as the German discounter launches a new challenge to established British grocers.

The business is stepping up store opening targets following a period of slower expansion, with planned new shops in cities including Edinburgh, Leeds and London, as well as towns such as Didcot in Oxfordshire and Woking in Surrey.

Lidl is offering a finder’s fee to anyone who can identify a location where the business can open larger stores with more than 100 car parking spaces.

Richard Taylor, chief development officer at Lidl’s UK business, said the discounter was now perfectly positioned for further expansion, having spent heavily on bolstering its logistics operations in recent months. Lidl currently has more than 960 stores across England, Scotland and Wales.

It follows a period where Lidl reined in expansion to focus more on its warehouses. It slammed the brakes on opening plans last February, confirming it had halved its opening target for 2023 to 25 stores. It followed some issues in its distribution centre that had affected supply.

Lidl did not reveal exactly how many new locations it is planning, but said it hoped to build hundreds of new stores. It previously had set a target of having 1,100 stores by the end of 2025. Mr Taylor said there was, however, “no ceiling on our ambition or growth potential”.

He added: “Having fortified our infrastructure with significant investments like Luton, which is the largest warehouse in the Lidl world, we’re proud to have achieved record market share this month. We have also been the fastest growing bricks-and-mortar supermarket for the past seven months in a row.”

Lidl has been gaining on rival supermarkets in recent months as more shoppers look for better value. The latest figures from Kantar showed Lidl’s market share hit 8pc in the 12 weeks to April 14, up from 7.6pc a year earlier. It means the discounter has narrowed the gap to nearest rival Morrisons, whose market share remained flat at 8.7pc.

Lidl last September said it would do “whatever it takes” to beat other supermarkets on price.

Ryan Mcdonnell, Lidl’s UK chief executive, said there was more room to gain shoppers: “I would say we would absolutely not have reached the peak in market share development among discounters.

“We would be very positive and very encouraged by the momentum we’ve developed and we’re experiencing at the moment,” he said.