Lidl - Definition and Overview

A Lidl in London

Lidl (either leed-ul as pronounced in recently-launched British TV commercials, or lid-ul) is a European discount supermarket chain of German origin that operate 5,000 stores. In Germany they are the most important competitor of Aldi. The full name of the company is Lidl Stiftung & Co KG. It belongs to the holding group Schwarz, which also owns the store chains Handelshof and Kaufland.

It was founded in the 1930s by a member of the Schwarz family, then called Lidl & Schwarz Lebensmittel-Sortimentsgroßhandlung. In the 1970s the first Lidl stores of todays incarnation opened.

Lidl is the second largest supermarket chain in Germany (2004), and has established itself in over 17 countries around the world.

Criticism of Lidl

Lidl has received critical attention in Germany over their treatment of workers' with trade unionists blacklisted (refusal to employ union members) in Lidl corporation, unpaid overtime, low wages and management by threats. The German Trade union Ver.di has taken to challenge Lidl for its bad labour practices.

Lidl is said to use aggressive strategies against their suppliers to enforce low prices.

Countries with Lidl shops

Current

• Austria
• Belgium
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Norway
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Spain
• Sweden
• The Netherlands
• United Kingdom

Planned

• Canada
• Croatia
• Estonia
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Slovenia
• Switzerland

Competitors

• ALDI (7000 stores)

External links

Official homepage

• Official homepage (http://www.lidl.com) (in German)

Official homepages in other languages

• Danish (Danmark) (http://www.lidl.dk)
• English (United Kingdoms) (http://www.lidl.co.uk)
• Estonian (Eesti) (http://www.lidl.ee)
• Finnish (Suomi) (http://www.lidl.fi)
• Norwegian (Norge) (http://www.lidl.no)
• Swedish (Sverige) (http://www.lidl.se)

Data

• Yahoo! - Lidl & Schwarz Stiftung & Co. KG Company Profile (http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/55/55154.html)