NECKARSULM, GERMANY – Discount retailer Lidl made waves earlier this week when, after accelerating its U.S. rollout by an entire year, the retailer announced its first stores to be opened in mid-June. And the company isn’t stopping there.
In fact, Reuters reports, the company is promising products 50 percent cheaper than its competitors in the U.S. market—a market already in the midst of what the news source has dubbed “a price war.”
"This is the right time for us to enter the United States," Brendan Proctor, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, told Reuters this Tuesday. "We are confident in our model. We adapt quickly, so it's not about whether a market works for us but really about what we will do to make it work."
Reuters’ report noted that Lidl and German rival Aldi have already disrupted the English retail landscape, and analysts estimate that Lidl could operate more than 330 stores in the U.S. by 2020.
Proctor also told the news source that, while its first 100 planned stores are standalone construction projects, the company is open to the possibility of leasing preexisting stores as it grows its footprint.
Can Lidl really cut prices in half, and what effects will the deep discounters’ entry into the U.S. have on the already competitive market? AndNowUKnow will continue to report with updates.
