// Lidl and Aldi expected to be 12 to 24 months late in reaching store opening targets
// Trading overlap with their own and each other’s stores will increasingly disrupt progress, Maximise UK says
New research has estimated that Lidl and Aldi will be 12 to 24 months late in hitting their store opening targets.
Trading overlap with their own and each other’s stores will increasingly disrupt progress as each discounter nears its target, according to retail location analysts Maximise UK.
Aldi currently has about 920 UK stores, with a long-term target of 1200 by 2025, while Lidl has 860 with a target of 1000 by 2023.
READ MORE: Lidl beats Aldi to be crowned cheapest supermarket in 2020
Maximise UK matched the profile of the discounters’ existing store network to its database of 70,000 retail locations across the UK, and reported a reluctance of both discounters to trade within 2km of their own existing stores, and a preference for being at least 1km apart from each other.
The analysis found only 6.4 per cent of Aldi stores fell within 2km of another Aldi store.
For Lidl, the figure was 10.4 per cent.
Meanwhile, the combined number of Aldi and Lidl stores within 1km of each other was 152, out of a total combined estate of about 1800.
“We are calling on developers and landlords up and down the country to help find potential sites for us to build Lidl stores, which demonstrates the continued ambition we have to further expand our store portfolio across the nation,” Lidl GB chief executive Christian Härtnagel said.
Aldi said its expansion plans and store targets are on course and remain unchanged.
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