Lidl’s contribution to Irish economy is revealed

John Lawlor, Director of DKM Economic Consultants; JP Scally, Managing Director, Lidl; and Shaun McKevitt, Terra Ltd, one of Lidl’s 180 suppliers

The rise and rise of Lidl in Ireland has been well-documented in the pages of ShelfLife and elsewhere, and now its exact value to the Irish economy has been revealed.

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A report by DKM Economic Consultants has established the value of Lidl’s capital investment programme in Ireland to date, revealing it to be a major contributor to the Irish economy.

Since establsihing its first seven stores in 2000, which have now grown to an impressive 147, Lidl has invested €1.4bn in the Republic of Ireland, furthered by an additional €110m earmarked for 2016. This investment is reflected as a contribution of €1.5bn to the Irish GDP since 2000.

DKM also highlighted how Lidl’s investment programme continued while Ireland was in severe recession, helping to maintain the construction sector and retail employment during a difficult period for the country and for its economy.

Currently, Lidl employs 4,000 staff directly in Ireland, and supports the employment of a further 5,700 in suppliers and the wider economy through ongoing operations in Ireland and overseas. DKM’s report also states that Lidl’s purchases from Irish suppliers have grown year-on-year and totaled €539m in 2015, sourced from 180 Irish suppliers.

“Over the past 16 years Lidl has made a significant investment in Ireland,” said JP Scally, Lidl Ireland’s managing director. “By working closely with local suppliers and staff, who have been key to our success, we have built a business that serves over 1.5 million customers each week and through this supports up to 11,000 jobs in communities across the country.

“We are delighted that our relationship with Irish suppliers continues to grow,” he said, “not only in purchasing produce worth €387 million for sale in our Irish stores, but also in supporting some of our 180 large and small Irish suppliers open up new export markets where over €150 million of Irish produce is supplied to Lidl stores in 18 countries across Europe.

“Lidl in Ireland is proud of the fact that sales of Irish sourced goods in Lidl’s European stores accounts for 1.4% of all Irish food and drink exports and we look forward to growing this in the years to come,” he added.

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