The rumours that have been simmering for months now appear true – German supermarket powerhouse Lidl is set to enter the Aussie supermarket stage and bring all manner of strife with it too.
Lidl offers a similar budget shopping experience to Aldi; offering private label products instead of the bigger well known brands. To get ahead of the game, Lidl has applied for hundreds of trademark labels to cover thousands of supermarket products. Trademarks products range from everyday groceries, cleaning liquids, paints, tools, camping equipment and alcohol.
Unlike Aldi, Lidl also have a range of premium brands and a high-end wines.
In October last year, Lidl lodged documents with IP Australia seeking copyright protection for its company logo featuring its blue, red and yellow colours.
To his credit, Adam Freedman, account director, consumer PR at Sydney’s Red Agency, has been predicting Lidl’s arrival into Australia for some time now.
Freedman told B&T that the Germans arrival will “herald a new era for Australia’s grocery industry”.
He said: “Competition creates greater choice for the consumer and this will ultimately lead retail brands to consider new ways to disrupt the marketplace. Any entrant into such a dominant market has to come out with all guns blazing and it’s likely we’ll see some big nationwide campaigns and dynamic in-store brand activations in the coming months as retailers and brands look to drive customer engagement and footfall. Expect to see an even fiercer retailer battle as they fight for customers’ affection.”
However, it’s yet unclear how a new arrival will affect Adland. There’s been great rumblings of late from agencies whose budgets have been squeezed from the heavy discount war between ALDI, Woolies and Coles.
Lidl has been a huge competitor in the UK supermarket competition. It currently has 620 store across the UK. Back in 2012, the grocery store actually beat Twitter as British students’ favourite brand.
This year Lidl was named Grocer of the Year at the Grocer Gold Awards in the UK. Editor of The Grocer magazine, Adam Leyland, praised Lidl’s rise in popularity: “In a transformational year for the discounter, in which it reinvented itself and executed a number of brave decisions with aplomb, Lidl’s savvy, witty and modern approach to marketing has changed perceptions about this previously reclusive retailer.”
Lidl UK managing director Ronny Gottschlich, said in a statement: “This is an incredible achievement for Lidl UK, and a great reward for all of the hard work that goes into ensuring that we can offer our customers the best products at the lowest possible prices.
“The awards help to reinforce our message that low cost does not mean having to com-promise on quality. We certainly won’t sit back on our laurels now however, and will continue in our commitment to develop innovative products for our customers in 2015, with an increased focus on the strength of our fresh offering.”
