Lidl Northern Ireland’s Regional Director reflects on the company’s success and looks to what the future holds as it continues to deliver on its ambitious plan to open and revitalise stores across the region, bringing its winning Big on Quality, Lidl on Price brand proposition to thousands more customers.

2021 has been a remarkable year for Lidl Northern Ireland. Despite the challenges of Brexit and the pandemic, our detailed preparations and responsiveness to changing market conditions ensured we emerged stronger than ever, reporting sales growth of more than 12% – the highest of all four main supermarkets here.

As a mark of our achievement, Lidl Northern Ireland was delighted to receive the award for Retail Company of the Year at the Business Eye Awards 2021 and have our unrivalled commitment to our customers and suppliers acknowledged at an industry level.

This year marked an unprecedented period of investment as we delivered on our ambitious plans to revitalise our existing store network and drive a series of new store openings across the region. Sustainability is core to our business and we are investing in a programme to upgrade a number of existing stores, focusing on energy efficiency and performance optimisation to significantly reduce our store network’s carbon footprint.

Expanding our presence has also allowed us to expand our team and in 2021 we reached a key milestone – growing our team to more than 1,000 for the first time. We also made a significant announcement to exceed the recommended Living Wage hourly rate for customer and warehouse assistants and we were delighted to deliver a third Covid bonus payment to all employees in recognition of their hard work during these uniquely challenging times.

We know that our success is down to our great team and this year we were honoured to be certified by the Top Employer’s Institute as a Top Employer for 2021 in recognition of our commitment and efforts in providing a better world of work.

Not only do we look after our people, but we’re focused on supporting our local communities through our dedicated Lidl Community Works programme. A key pillar of this is our charity partnership with NSPCC Northern Ireland. Since 2017, we have raised more than £600,000 in support of the charity’s vital services across the region. Additionally, our Sport for Good programme has supported more than 80 sports clubs and schools across Northern Ireland and provided more than £220,000 in funding over the last two years to encourage more young people into sport.

Looking ahead to 2022, we see great opportunity to grow our business further and extend our supplier network and employee base in Northern Ireland. We will continue to deliver on our commitment to build a network of 50 stores by the end of this decade and to revitalise our existing stores in line with our sustainability objectives.

The outlook for the industry is positive and we recognise that we have a role to play in leading recovery of the sector and supporting the Northern Ireland economy. Above all, we remain focused on investing heavily in the region to ensure more Northern Irish shoppers have access to our market-leading value and high quality, award-winning products for many years to come.

Caption: J.P. Scally, Chief Executive of Lidl Ireland and Lidl Northern Ireland, and Conor Boyle, Regional Director Lidl Northern Ireland 

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The retailer filed financial results for the period March 2020 to February 2021, hailing its exponential business growth during a period of unprecedented challenges.

J.P. Scally, Chief Executive of Lidl Ireland and Lidl Northern Ireland, said: “Lidl Northern Ireland has delivered an impressive trading performance over the full year period and this substantial year-on-year sales growth is testament to our established business model which continues to deliver for us and for our more than 300,000 weekly customers across the region.

“Despite unprecedented challenges, we’ve held our position as Northern Ireland’s fastest-growing supermarket, achieving 24% sales growth in 2020, and we’re focused now on growing that even further.”

Lidl Northern Ireland credits its growing market share to investing in its local store and supplier network and maintaining a robust supply chain to bring its Big on Quality, Lidl on Price proposition to even more shoppers across the region.

“Our last financial year marked a period of solid investment in delivering on our ambitious growth plans for the region. We opened two new stores in Belfast and Holywood and revitalised a further five stores across the region in line with our modern ‘concept’ store designs which prioritises space and sustainability and offers our growing customer base a more comfortable shopping experience. We’re well placed to deliver on our ambition of 50 stores by the end of this decade,” Mr Scally said.

Last year, Lidl Northern Ireland confirmed a £32 million investment for the Greater Belfast area in opening three new stores at Crumlin Road, Boucher Road and Holywood Exchange as well as revitalising its premises at Castlereagh Road and Shore Road.

Investment

The retailer also announced a further £26 million investment into the North West region including opening a brand-new state-of-the-art store in Buncrana Road in Derry~Londonderry, progressing with plans for an additional nearby store in Crescent Link and Strabane.

Buoyed by a long-established strategy to build a strong local supply chain, Lidl Northern Ireland continues to develop its growing network of more than 50 local suppliers from which it sources almost £300 million worth of goods each year.

“Lidl Northern Ireland is proud of its robust and agile local supply chain. We’ve worked to develop this over two decades and our approach to sourcing locally has helped to shield us from some of the supply issues that other retailers faced over this period. Sourcing such a large volume of our products locally has meant that we haven’t been as reliant on imports. We were pleased to be in a strong position and able to maintain supply of great quality and great tasting, local products over the past 12 months, and look forward to continuing to do so for many years to come”, said Mr Scally.

“We remain committed to supporting local food and drink producers and we plan to continue to invest in the local agri-food industry through our dedicated Kick Start Supplier Development Programme which aims to support small and medium sized producers and open up export opportunities for wider industry growth.”

Lidl Northern Ireland has grown staff numbers to more than 1,000 employees for the first time across its 41-strong store network and Regional Distribution Centre in Nutt’s Corner, Co. Antrim.

Earlier this year, Lidl Northern Ireland was named a Top Employer for 2021 by the Top Employers Federation.

CAPTION:  J.P. Scally, Chief Executive of Lidl Ireland and Lidl Northern Ireland and Conor Boyle, Regional Director Lidl Northern Ireland. 

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Lidl Northern Ireland has announced its commitment to becoming a carbon neutral business by 2025 and industry leading initiatives including launching a dedicated Supplier Engagement Programme and enabling customers to lower their carbon impact through EV charging points.

The retailer also plans to further progress on its targets by committing to a 46% reduction on its operational emissions by 2030. The announcement comes as part of the retailer’s progress report on their sustainability strategy ‘A Better Tomorrow’.

Driving targets

Lidl is committed to driving those targets through a robust schedule of activities that target their internal operations as well as initiatives that support their network of suppliers and customers to lower their carbon impact. These initiatives will cement Lidl’s position as Ireland’s most sustainable retailer.

Since 2019, Lidl has partnered with The Carbon Trust to embark on a collaborative study measuring the retailer’s carbon footprint and to model in-depth carbon reduction strategies, aligned with the overarching Science Based Target initiative guidelines. The results of the study formed the basis of a national reduction strategy, with specific targets set for Lidl’s operations in Northern Ireland as outlined in Lidl’s newly updated Sustainability Strategy progress report.

J.P. Scally, CEO Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland said;

“At Lidl we believe it is our responsibility to not only offer the best service for our customers, suppliers and communities but to protect the environment and build a successful, sustainable future. We take our role in society seriously and continuously strive to go above and beyond to make a positive difference for our customers, communities, and the environment, working to bring about real change through innovation, investment, and active leadership.

There has been a notable increase in awareness and understanding for sustainability, from sustainable living to responsible business practices and the importance of supporting local. I am hopeful this global transition will continue to drive ambitious results towards protecting our planet and securing a bright, sustainable future for upcoming generations. At Lidl, we will continue to contribute to this global ambition through our A Better Tomorrow strategy. We are proud of the progress we have achieved that is outlined in this report and look forward building on that progress in the years to come.”

Key initiatives

Key initiatives outlined within the report include a focus on further reducing plastic use and packaging waste, with Lidl Northern Ireland committing to 100% of all own-brand packaging being widely recyclable, reusable or renewable by 2025. Additionally, 50% of the materials used in own-brand packaging will come from recycled materials.

Lidl Northern Ireland is also in progress to develop a dedicated ‘Supplier Engagement Programme’, the first of its kind in the retail industry, which sees collaboration with its key suppliers to develop CSR and Sustainability projects to improve the supplier’s environmental impact and in turn, help them to grow their future business sustainably. The five-year collaborative programme aims to develop long term plans with suppliers to address carbon emissions reduction but also packaging reduction and circularity amongst other areas.

Having already made the switch to purchasing 100% green energy in 2018, Lidl is committed to retrofitting solar panelling across its entire store network by at least 15 stores a year across the island of Ireland. Lidl currently have 74 dedicated customer charging points across its store network, the most of any retailer on the island, and is committed to increasing this number over the coming years.

Positive impact

Lidl Northern Ireland continues to strive to have a positive impact on the communities in which it operates by working with charity partner NSPCC Northern Ireland. Now in its fourth year, the partnership has delivered fundraising of more than £500,000 for the charity. Lidl Northern Ireland has also launched ground-breaking initiatives including becoming the first retailer locally to combat period poverty by offering free period products to shoppers and becoming the first company in the island of Ireland to offer compassionate leave to employees who have experienced early pregnancy loss and miscarriage.

Owen Keogh, Head of CSR, Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland added:

“A Better Tomorrow is our comprehensive sustainability strategy that targets all functions of our business from sustainable sourcing, packaging and how we approach construction, to how we can improve the lives of our colleagues and the communities we operate in. We continue to collaborate with our suppliers and industry experts to ensure we are setting the standard for sustainability in the sector ensuring that our strategy crystalises our commitment to providing a safe and nurturing environment for our colleagues, to contribute positively to our communities and to be exemplary environmental stewards.”

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