Lidl adds a string to its bow. After the 1,580 stores in (almost) all of France, the travel and wine sales sites, the Lidl Plus loyalty card, the German discount store present in France for 35 years, which has become the sixth chain of France’s largest supermarket, announced on Tuesday the launch of an e-commerce site in the country, where it will sell non-food products “starting June 1”.
Already available online for a few days, the Lidl.fr site offers a currently limited selection of around 2,000 exclusively non-food products divided into 10 categories (garden, DIY, kitchen, fashion, multimedia, children, furniture and decoration… ) .
A limited proposal if we compare it with other e-tailers that offer tens of millions of references with their marketplace, but Lidl does not intend to compete with Amazon. For the dealer, it’s all about offering equipment products that customers love when they discover them in stores.
8.5 million Lidl Plus cards
Depending on arrivals, customers will be able to order the brand’s best-selling products such as the Mr. Cuisine robot or the range of sports clothing and shoes in Lidl colours.
The site is open to the general public, but the current 8.5 million holders of the Lidl Plus loyalty card launched in 2021 will finally benefit from the advantages, we at Lidl assured without giving further details.
Maybe postage will be reduced? Because at the moment Lidl makes you pay either at home, at a relay point or in one of its 900 stores equipped with ticket offices to retrieve your order. It will cost you between 4.99 euros and 44.98 euros (for very large products or more than 30 kg) to have your product delivered. The brand claims these costs are incomprehensible and prefers to announce the color immediately rather than offer delivery during the site’s launch before charging shipping costs later.
Lidl relies on the e-commerce logistics that already exists in the seven countries where the site has been launched for several years (Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, etc.). Products are stored in a giant logistics center located in Rosendaal in the Netherlands before being transported by logistics partners such as DPD, GLS, Relais colis, and Mondial Relay to French sorting centers before being delivered to final pickup.
Offered in some countries for several years now, Lidl’s sales site has had some success with an average sales basket of over €60 and a wide range of products for sale. In the Czech Republic, for example, Lidl claims that 15,000 products are for sale, including many well-known brands as well as expensive furnishing products such as garden sheds at €10,000 each.
Lidl rules out the possibility of a drive
With its site, Lidl hopes to become a full-fledged retailer in the country. First, reaching populations that do not have access to a nearby Lidl store, such as the inhabitants of Corsica, the Gers or certain areas of the Alps. Then increasing the notoriety of the brand that in 20222 welcomed around 65% of French consumers according to Kantar.
On the other hand, it is not about testing a possible future food offer. Lidl rules out the possibility of a future shopping cart service as the big players in the sector are now proposing.
Lidl weighs almost 8% of the market share of large distribution, and achieved a turnover in France of “around 15,000 million euros” in 2022, going from “6 to 7%”, Michel had declared in mid-April Biero in an interview with LSA.
Lidl is not the first discount store to launch online sales in recent months. The Action brand has also just opened its commercial site in Belgium after the Netherlands. A departure from a strategy until now focused exclusively on the store.
Source: BFM TV
