By Giorgos Lampiris
The overall way in which business is conducted and the broader strategy of businesses related to the organized retail sector, whether it is supermarkets or industry, is brought about by the agreement signed by the measuring company NieslenIQ and the supermarket chain Lidl .
The consent step was taken by Lidl not only in our country but also in other countries abroad, with the chain removing one of the restrictions it had set all the previous time, taking an essential step in disclosing its sales to the market .
Now, according to exclusive information available to Capital.gr, Lidl, both in our country and in other countries where it maintains a presence, is proceeding in collaboration with NielsenIQ in order to provide it with data on sales and the data that exists from the circulation of the products on its shelves. This is a tectonic differentiation in the philosophy of the chain so far, which does not share financial data in Greece as well as in other countries of its activity, which comes to follow the rest of the chains that already provide measurable data for their sales as a whole as and by product category, which offer safe conclusions about the course and data of the market.
This collaboration that comes to our attention is a decisive step, which in the first phase will enable Lidl’s competition, i.e. the rest of the supermarket chains as well as the industry, to know monthly the course of its sales and the its market share with measurable and reliable data. At the same time, this is a step that will enable a more efficient outline and capture of the market.
Until now, the calculation of Lidl’s data was essentially approximate, given that, among other things in our country, Lidl maintains the character of a joint-stock company and does not publish annual financial results, while it did not provide official data using the method of scanning, recording sales through the POS machines as the rest of the chains do. This practically means that until now Nielsen’s conclusions regarding Lidl’s performance were drawn using an approximate method, where customers’ receipts were recorded when they left the chain’s stores and with the use of a statistical sample the measurement was drawn regarding the multinational chain’s sales and its market position.
According to the same information, the cooperation is not limited only to Greece, but overall to the countries where the two companies maintain a presence and there is ground for cooperation between them.
What is mentioned in the relevant announcement – notification of cooperation for Greece
Regarding this particular collaboration, NielsenIQ in Greece informed its businesses – clients, with which it collaborates, with its bilingual announcement in Greek and English. This information is available to Capital.gr.
It states:
“Dear partners,
The modern retail environment presents a multitude of challenges with a significant impact on the way retailers and suppliers operate in the FMCGs industry.
At Nieslen IQ we are constantly looking for ways to improve our services. One of the key areas has been and continues to be the continuous expansion of market coverage for the countries in which we operate.
We are pleased to announce that Lidl, one of the world’s leading FMCGs retailers, has decided to join NielsenIQ’s retail measurement services with scanning data. This partnership is a natural progression as both NielsenIQ and Lidl operate in a large number of countries.
Greece is also included in this agreement, which is the result of our commitment to expand coverage through valuable partnerships. Therefore, in the next period of time we will focus on its implementation in order to provide you with an even better understanding of the market dynamics.
We will update you with more information on the timing and integration of the data in the near future.”
Company of the powerful Schwarz business group
Lidl belongs to the diversified business group Schwarz, which in the financial year 2021 employed around 550,000 employees, increasing its sales from 125.3 billion euros in 2020 to 133.6 billion euros.
The Schwarz Group operates more than 13,300 Lidl and Kaufland supermarket stores. Lidl alone on a global basis recorded sales of 100.8 billion euros in 2021, recording an increase of 4.7% compared to the previous year.
However, the step of disclosing information to the rest of the market and the companies active in the sector is of interest. As far as the publication of financial data is concerned, it is something that has not been implemented in our country at the moment. However, we will remind you that for example in Great Britain, where Lidl has now been present for 28 years, the first year it started to publish financial data was at the beginning of 2021 for the year that ended in February 2020. By many analysts at the time it was estimated as a move to keep pace with the data and requirements of the particular market, given that the rest of the retailers were also issuing financial statements.
Source: Capital
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