Lidl Case Study

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Introduction UK’s exit from the European Union following the Referendum on 23rd June 2016 has exerted tremendous and profound impact on UK grocery industry. Many experts warn that devalued sterling will force the prices to go up and bring a tough time for the industry. However, Lidl, a German no-frills supermarket, has emerged to be the fastest growing supermarket with a 12.2 percent increase on sales from June to August (Denton, 2016). In the early 90’s, Lidl opened its first UK store. Insisting on providing qualified products with low prices, it has expanded rapidly in UK and owns more than 640 stores now. It also won the 2016 Good Housekeeping Awards as the Best Supermarket (Lidl, 2016). With no doubt, Brexit greatly changes the business …show more content…

On the one hand, Lidl’s stores are limited in range and number. As mentioned, Lidl only has 640 stores in the UK. In contrast, Tesco has over 6000 stores and Sainsbury has over 1200 stores. It is clear that the gap of geographic reach is still huge. On the other hand, big supermarkets have sufficient financial support to compete in price war. In addition, low customer loyalty is also a concern. Lidl’s first loyalty program a new online community called ‘My Lidl’, was just launched in March this year, years later than its rivals (Hobbs, 2016). Although lower prices have attracted more customers, it is difficult to maintain them as loyal buyers. Above weaknesses exist before Brexit, but may prevent Lidl from further growing. Opportunity Brexit has highlighted the importance of localization. In order to sustain the strength, drive the supply cots down and get a stronger strategic position, Lidl should be proactive and take immediate action to build good relationships with local suppliers. Aldi has taken the first step that it sells one hundred percent British meat in British stores (Fletcher& …show more content…

Big rivals such as Tesco and Morrisons started to compete in price by shrinking packages, introducing cheaper equivalent products, or using cheaper ingredients. Although these strategies cause a sluggish revenue increase, it works on boosting sales and market shares. For example, Tesco’s sale grew by 2.2 percent during July to September. Apart from the traditional retailers, Aldi who applies a similar discounter model is also a strong competitor. In 16th July, the market share of Aldi was 6.2% while Lidl occupied 4.6% of the market (Gale,2016) Compared to Lidl, Aldi has a more dominant market position and better corporate with local farmers. To stand out from these rivals, Lidl still has a long way to go. Moreover, pound weakness will lead to both inflation and higher tariffs, despite Lidl has less effect than its rivals, it still bears the pressure from increased supply chain costs and reduced profits(McClean,2016).

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