Lidl has integrated a grocery ordering feature into its Lidl Plus App in Ireland. It is not designed for home delivery of groceries, but only for ordering for collection from the car parks of its stores. This reports Lebensmittel Zeitung today. Customers in Ireland can order their shopping online via the Lidl Plus App and then collect it. The discounter is already promoting the new feature in its customer communications in Ireland.
An international roll-out of the service is planned – though Schwarz Group’s discounter has not specified a timeframe for this to Lebensmittel Zeitung. The integration into the Lidl Plus App does indeed suggest more than just a national trial.
The concept of Click&Collect is not entirely new to Lidl but has so far been limited to national trials involving the pre-ordering of non-food promotional items – as reported by The Retail Optimiser – or the collection of non-food orders placed via the Lidl online shop at in-store locations. The Schwarz Group discounter has introduced the latter in France, amongst other places, to increase footfall in its stores.
First attempt at online food following the Lidl Express damp squib
In Germany, too, there was a trial in 2019 for collecting online shop orders in-store. At the time, Lidl, in collaboration with DHL, tested a collection option for deliveries from the Lidl online shop in around 80 stores in the Rhine-Neckar region. This was exclusively for orders from the online shop, where Lidl has primarily offered non-food products since 2008.
However, this move is not entirely new for Lidl in the food sector either. In early 2017, the retailer had prepared a collection concept in Berlin under the name Lidl Express. The project was intended to combine online food orders with collection at small stores, but it never went live.
Trials with delivery via quick-commerce providers
Until now, Lidl has only offered food online via external service providers such as Buymie or Instacart in selected international markets. On its own initiative, the retailer has previously sold groceries exclusively from the shelves of its stores. This is now changing with the new service in Ireland.
The ordering and collection process for the new Click&Collect food service in Ireland runs entirely via the app. Lidl has listed items, prices, available order slots and payment options there, and communication with the store also takes place via this platform. According to Lebensmittel Zeitung, a wide range of food products can be ordered. Non-food promotional items are not available. Orders must be placed by midnight at the latest to be ready for collection the following day.
One-hour collection slot
To collect their orders, Lidl customers log in via the app when they drive to a reserved parking space during their one-hour time slot. A member of staff then brings the shopping, packed in a box, to the car. A PIN code is used to prevent misuse, and payment is made via Lidl Pay only after handover, so that prices current on the day and any substitute items can be correctly charged.
For Lidl, this move comes in a market environment where online grocery shopping is playing an increasingly significant role in Anglo-Saxon countries. In Ireland, Tesco recently put its online growth at just under 20 per cent, with a market share of 24 per cent. Lidl most recently achieved a 14.4 per cent market share in Ireland, putting it in fourth place.
