Lidl Poland, whose chain has more than 850 shops, plans to maintain the pace of expansion in our country at the level of several dozen facilities per year, according to director of corporate communications and CSR Aleksandra Robaszkiewicz. Lidl Poland still intends to support the export of Polish suppliers and their products on foreign markets after it reached almost PLN 5.4 billion in 2022.
“Lidl Poland currently has more than 850 shops, located throughout the country. We are opening several dozen facilities a year and we plan to maintain this pace of expansion, growing organically,” said Robaszkiewicz.
“We are building new shops in both large cities and smaller towns. We are investing in places that are well connected and offer the possibility of building a comfortable car park. In the coming months, further Lidl Polska shops will be opened in, among others, the Pomorskie, Podlaskie, Lubelskie, Małopolskie and Wielkopolskie provinces,” she added.
She also pointed out that inflation, rising gas, energy and other raw material prices are now a real challenge for many industries, including the trade sector.
“They also have a direct impact on rising production costs and final product prices. In order to limit the impact of these factors on our offerings as much as possible, we rely on multi-year contracts where we work with our partners to ensure that our customers receive competitive prices,” said the director.
“In addition, thanks to many years of environmentally friendly investments, we have been able to significantly reduce our shop and warehouse maintenance costs. For years, we have been investing in solutions such as photovoltaics and ground source heat pumps. The current challenging market conditions have confirmed that these steps are having an impact on long-term cost reduction,” she added.
She assessed that due to rising inflation and the difficult economic situation, an attractive price/quality ratio of products has become a very important value for Polish families and consumers. She pointed out that Lidl Polska is expanding its own-brand assortment so that new products are of high quality, attractively priced and environmentally friendly. Lidl Polska aims to make its prices very attractive in relation to the domestic market.
“An important contribution to private labels is made by Polish suppliers, who largely help us create them. These include both large and smaller companies, such as Maspex, Animex Foods or Magda Roślinna. Customers often and eagerly turn to private label products, knowing that in doing so they gain high quality and a low price. Despite the rising costs of obtaining raw materials, we ensure very low, attractive prices for a number of products available in our shops,” she pointed out.
And she stressed that a very important goal for the company is to work with Polish suppliers, which translates into a strong and positive impact on the domestic economy.
“On a daily basis, we cooperate with more than 820 suppliers from Poland, while in our offer customers will find more than 440 products with the ‘Polish Product’ label. One of Lidl Poland’s further goals is to support the export of Polish products under Lidl’s own brands. 2022 was a record year in terms of exports – last year alone, almost 300 Polish suppliers exported their products under Lidl private labels to 28 foreign markets where Lidl is present. The value of these exports amounted to nearly PLN 5.4 billion,” she recalled.
“On the other hand, in five years (2018-2022), exports of Polish products through the international Lidl chain reached a value of more than PLN 18 billion. The value relating to exports has been growing steadily for years – Lidl Poland still intends to promote and support the export of Polish products on foreign markets,” Robaszkiewicz also said.
Earlier, the company reported that the TOP 8 foreign export markets for Lidl Polska and Polish suppliers in terms of value were in 2022: Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary, Latvia, Bulgaria and the UK. Polish meat, cold cuts, yellow cheese and butter were the most popular abroad in terms of value and volume.
Lidl Polska is part of the international Lidl group of companies, which includes independent companies active throughout Europe. There are currently more than 12,000 Lidl shops in 31 countries, and more than 850 in Poland.
Source: Lidl and ISBnews
