Discount Retail Chain Lidl Sweden's (owned by the German Schwarz Group) country manager Johan Augustsson said it was an extreme year, when the chain blew up the 200-store wall, sales increased by 12.8 percent and for the fourth year in a row took market shares.
In the future, I think we will be at about 6 - 8 new stores per year, but this year there will be slightly fewer, he says to Fri Köpenskap.
Lidl Sweden increased sales by SEK 1.5 billion (US$ 170 million, during the 2020/21 financial year. This means increased sales by 12.8 percent to SEK 13.3 Billion (US$1.5bn) vs last year SEK 11.8 Bn (US$1.3Bn). Lidl thus increased its market share, as the entire industry grew by 7.1 percent at the same time according to the Grocery Index, DVI.
This is the fourth year in a row that Lidl is gaining market share. Most of the increase was driven by organic growth, more customers shopped for more in existing stores, according to the company. The loss for the financial year, which spans from March to February, increased to SEK -145 million (US$ -16.5 million), last year SEK -68 million (US$ -7.7 million). The loss, which according to the company is planned, is explained by large investments in, among other things, the new head office in Barkarby, the opening of new 14 stores and the new central warehouse in Örebro.
Now we are refurbishing our existing stores at the same time as we open new ones. We have a strong platform that enables continued strong growth. Combined with our flexible and fast-paced approach, we have every opportunity to continue to take market shares from the market dominants, comments Johan Augustsson.
During the year, Lidl launched its new customer club the Lidl APP European wide. It has exceeded expectations, we have gained a lot of members, says Johan Augustsson.
During the financial year, Lidl also opened a fast track for almost 50 small, local food producers. During the year, Lidl sold approximately 2.5 million goods from them. It is clear proof that we are on the right track when more and more consumers appreciate and discover our improved offer, where fresh, Swedish food is in focus. We are the challenger in the Swedish food market. The need for a strong challenger increases as the dominants consolidate their positions in the market and acquire competitors. There is a great risk that customers and suppliers will have to pay the price when competition deteriorates and it is our task to counteract this. We want to ensure that more Swedish households have access to food of the highest quality at the best price and fair conditions for suppliers, Johan Augustsson concludes.
See here for more: https://www.fri-kopenskap.se/article/view/804671/sa_ska_lidl_fortsatta_expandera_efter_rekordaret?token=63is26vkl238nvlzgyn08xoxdi8npun9
