Abstract

Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (Lidl) is a Germany-based hard discount retailer. It was started in 1973 on the lines of Aldi, the first and the largest discounter in Germany. Over the years, Lidl differentiated its strategies and developed a separate and distinct identity for itself not only in Germany but across Europe. It offered stiff competition to other discount retailers like Penny as well as to full-service, large format stores like Tesco. The case describes some of the ways in which Lidl managed to keep its costs low. Some of the challenges it faced, including allegations of poor treatment of employees, and the growing competition from full-service retailers who were adopting some of the practices of the successful discounters are also discussed.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand some of the practices of a discount retail chain.
• Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the company.

Keywords

Lidl, Hard discounter, Retailing, Private labels, Promotion, Store management, German retailing