Lidl would have used construction tricks to increase its turnover
According to an article in the "Manager Magazin", the discount chain Lidl based in Bad Wimpfen, the pride of austere Germany, used illicit tricks to increase sales. The magazine, citing former employees and contractors, accuses the company of secretly increasing the size of its subsidiaries starting in the 1990s. The discounter's main goal was to increase sales per branch.
According to the report, the expansion had been planned from the beginning . This meant that the partition walls for the storage area could be removed. In this way, 800 m2 of commercial space were partially transformed into 1,200 m2 . By illegally expanding the sales area, the discounter secured a competitive advantage.
At the same time, the expansion also increased efficiency. Since there are more goods in the store, employees have to go to the warehouse less often. This saves on personnel costs. Sales in the affected branches are said to have increased by 10-20% thanks to the additional sales surfaces. The magazine suspects that some of these branches are still operating today.
In some cases the scam has been exposed
In some cases, the report said, fraud was discovered. The Rhein-Neckar district building authority noticed that a branch near Mannheim was 200 square meters larger than permitted. In individual cases, four-digit fines were imposed. Higher sums or closure of the illicit business were rarely cited. Lidl then put back the walls. It is unclear who gave the instructions or whether owner Dieter Schwarz was aware of them. A spokesperson did not comment on this to “Manager-Magazin”.
A spokesperson explained the matter as follows: “What has been described goes well beyond the usual detection systems and therefore cannot be traced by us. Other than existing building permits, there is no continuous and systematic documentation.” on the structural state of the branches over decades.”
“The 1990 Building Use Regulations no longer meet our customers' current demands for a sustainable and future-proof shopping location,” a spokesperson points out. “Over the last 30 years, food retailing has changed significantly due to consumer behaviour, increased customer demands, social developments and additional legal requirements, such as accessibility.”
Contacted by Business Insider, a company spokeswoman also said: “Lidl is unequivocally committed to its corporate principle: 'We comply with applicable law and internal guidelines.' As part of our compliance management system, we continually investigate any indication of possible compliance violations. The current charge will also be examined.”
In the meantime, however, the chain has increased the surface area without planning permission. So much for fairness.
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The article Lidl allegedly used construction tricks to increase its turnover comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/lidl-avrebbe-utilizzato-trucchi-edilizi-per-aumentare-l-proprio-fatturato/ on Sun, 23 Jun 2024 05:15:49 +0000.