This was reported by the German newspaper Lebensmittel Zeitung with reference to internal documents of the Schwarz Group shareholder.
Lidl's management has made a decision to enter the Ukrainian market due to its high growth rates and Lidl's shareholders would very much like to repeat the “Polish” success in Ukraine. At the same time, the founders of the German brand claim that they see the Ukrainian market as potentially interesting for the introduction of a new product for consumers.
Lidl has already decided who is going to be the head of Lidl office in Ukraine. It will be 47-year-old Adam Mishchishin, who previously headed the Lidl network in Poland. The appropriate document was signed by Lidl CEO Gerd Chrzanowski, notes the newspaper. Thanks to Mr Chrzanowski the Lidl network has about 760 markets in Poland and has become one of the largest players in the country's retail market.
The launch date in Ukraine has not yet been announced. There is also no information on whether Lidl is going to enter the market organically or whether it will consider a takeover of another network.
Schwarz noted that the Ukrainian ATB allegedly copies Lidl's concepts, respectively, it is assumed that Lidl in Ukraine will compete with the ATB chain, which has about 1 200 stores in Ukraine.
Lidl is a German international supermarket chain founded in 1973 and now has more than 11 500 stores in 32 countries, 28 of which are European; the network is also presented in China, Australia and the USA. The company employs over 310 000 people worldwide. The Schwarz Group, including Lidl, had a turnover of € 125.3 billion in 2020.
