Discount Retail Chain Lidl UK's finance chief has quit as the German-owned discounter struggles to achieve profitable growth. Marco Di Costanzo is leaving after two years in the role. It is understood he will be taking up another post in the Schwarz retail empire that owns Lidl once a successor is named in the New Year. His departure comes as experts predict another bumper Christmas for Lidl as it pursues an aggressive expansion plan. Lidl has nearly 1,000 stores and is closi

Discount Retail Consulting (DRC) feature, which appears as the 5th column in the Red Sea Economic Magazine (April 2026 edition). The column explores how the discounter Customer Value Proposition (CVP) is being redefined to capture market share within the unique competitive environment of the Middle East. The Evolution of CVP: From Low Price to Localized Value In the competitive Middle Eastern grocery landscape, the discounter CVP moves beyond simple price leadership to a mode

It could have been the most spectacular entry of a German retailer into #China  in years. As the company confirmed upon inquiry, the drugstore chain Müller had explored expanding into China with its own physical stores. The first branch was slated to open in Shanghai in the fourth quarter, with up to 500 locations envisioned. However, the retailer has now pulled back. "For the current phase, Müller has decided to focus its expansion efforts on Europe, particularly on the newl

DRC折扣零售咨询公司合伙人马克·胡珀曼斯（MarcHouppermans，以下简称马克）曾经在全球知名折扣店品牌Aldi任职13年，一度做到Aldi荷兰董事总经理的职位，全面负责Aldi在荷兰的门店扩张、供应链建设与自有品牌开发。近年来，他又以咨询顾问的身份参与了多个中国折扣店项目。 眼下，折扣店在中国已经形成燎原之势：盒马旗下超盒算NB门店数超过了400家；奥乐齐已有100余家门店，并且宣布要今年开出至少50家门店；而快乐猴、京东折扣超市两家互联网平台旗下的折扣店项目也加快开店速度。 在这样的背景下，《第三只眼看零售》专访了这位折扣业态的老兵，请他以“过来人”身份对中国折扣店发展进行复盘。 在马克看来，折扣店是一个漫长的赛道，需要开到500家门店才能实现整体盈利。“奥乐齐在澳大利亚和美国市场都是门店数到了500家以后才开始盈利的，在中国也会是这样一个趋势”，马克表示。 他认为，折扣店代表企业Aldi在欧洲是定位全客层消费的，但在中国，更多的中产阶层到奥乐齐消费，而中低收入群体通常在农贸市场购物。折扣店要得到中国全客层消费者的接纳，预计还需要1

Discount Retail Consulting's management continued their journey as part of its business development trip to China (see our previous post on Yiwu ). DRC was invited by the management of Luohe City Investment Industry-Finance Technology Company Ltd., which is part of the Central-Southern Henan Digital Industry-Finance Platform, located in Luohe, in south-central Henan Province, about 150 km south of Zhengzhou (population 12 million). Luohe is renowned for its over 7,000 food ma

DRC interview for German national TV SWR - ARD Discount Variety Retail Chain Action is a so-called non-food discounter - the offer ranges from DIY supplies and textiles to toys, sports and decorative items. Action attracts around 20 million customers every week. Action operates more than 3,000 stores in thirteen European countries. Each store offers around 6,000 products, a mix of brands and private labels as well as no-name products. What convinces action fans: Two-thirds of

The recent visit of a second group of 17 prominent Chinese retailers and FMCG manufacturers to the Netherlands and Germany provided a valuable opportunity to deepen their understanding of the discounter model and value chain, which has not fully penetrated China's grocery sector. This visit followed the first group's trip in May this year. See: China: Chinese retailers exploring German discount retail ( discountretailconsulting.com ) During the visit, the delegation toured di

Discount Retail Chain Aldi UK has insisted it still has no plans to launch a loyalty app, after scanners were spotted at its checkouts identical to those used by Lidl f or its rewards scheme. Lidl Plus users scan the app at checkout to claim exclusive discounts and personalised rewards. The app has been credited by Kantar with helping fuel Lidl’s sales success, at the same time Aldi’s growth rate has shrunk dramatically. A version of a rewards scheme from Aldi is widely a

Discount Retail Chain Lidl's owning Schwarz Group CEO Gerd Chrzanowski was personally interviewed by Florian Kolf, a respected German Handelblatt retail journalist. DRC was asked by Handelsblatt to provide comments on the developments at Lidl. "Lidl bremst gerade etwas die Expansion. Das Unternehmen ist in einer Konsolidierungs-phase“, beobachtet Marc Houppermans, Discount-Expert der Branchenberatung DRC Discount Retail Consulting GmbH . Investiert werde eher in Logistikeffi

With discounters booming in the cost-of-living crisis, what’s motivating Lidl’s move to slow down expansion in the UK? What’s going on at Lidl? Its sales are soaring, market share is growing, and yet for reasons widely unknown, it seems to be taking its foot off the gas on its once ambitious expansion plans. As The Grocer revealed in February, Lidl has halved its projected store openings for the year from the usual 50-plus to 25, in a slowdown some suggest could extend until

Mr. Houppermans, why are #Aldi and #Lidl in Germany currently lagging behind those of the major supermarket operators in terms of their development? Due to the Covid-19 crisis, the discounters are concentrating on the operative business, which is at the expense of expansion and modernization. #Edeka and #Rewe, on the other hand, score highly in their function as local suppliers with a full range of products. At the same time, the perceived price difference between discounters