“Good afternoon and welcome to Lidl. Thank you for coming to see me. I would like to continue in Finnish, but unfortunately I am just learning Finnish and therefore I have to switch to English”, says the new CEO of Lidl Finland Conor Boyle in clear Finland for the journalists of the media conference.
Speaking such good Finnish is quite an achievement, because Boyle, who is from Northern Ireland, has only been in Finland for half a year.
Boyle himself is not very satisfied with his language skills, because before he came, he imagined that he would learn Finnish quickly, after all, he has studied languages at university and, in addition to English, speaks Swedish, French, Italian and German.
“I take Finnish language lessons a couple of times a week, but Finnish is incredibly difficult.”
To Finland The 46-year-old Boyle ended up by chance, just as he ended up with Lidl's bread in his time.
Boyle started his career at Lidl the same year as Finland's first Lidl opened its doors, in 2002. His first job was in Glasgow, and the reason for that was his future wife, a Scot Kirsty. After a couple of years of long-distance relationship, the couple wanted to move to the same country. When the telecommunications company where Boyle worked started to go bad, the matter was decided.
“It was the first job I applied for in Scotland, and I got it.”
Now more than twenty years later, the employer is still the same, but the title and country have changed a few times. Boyle moved to Finland from his home country of Northern Ireland, and before that he was CEO of Sweden's Lidl for three years.
“The invitation to move to Finland was a surprise.”
The departure to Finland came so quickly that the wife and three children remained in Northern Ireland. They plan to move in next summer. Until then, Boyle flies to Belfast every other weekend and is busy on the phone.
“Ironically, we talk more as a family now than before because I call them almost every day when they're sitting in the car on the way to sports practice.”
Conor Boyle's goal is to expand Lidl's store network and increase market share.
Finland At Lidl, Boyle plans to do what he has done in the other countries he has managed.
“Growth, that's what I'm after.”
Lidl now has 203 stores in Finland when the Akaa store opens today, Thursday. At the end of January, the number will increase by one again, when the Vantaankoski store opens its doors. Boyle estimates that there will be around 250 stores in the future.
“The goal is to expand at the rate of about five stores a year.”
However, Lidl does not intend to increase the size of the stores, as it is not part of the concept. Finland's largest Lidl is in H
elsinki in Graniittitalo, where the sales area is almost 2,000 square meters. It's an exception: standard store sizes are between 1,000 and 1,400 square meters, and they'll stay that way.
The new ones in addition to stores, Lidl's goal is to increase market share in Finland. That's what the new one just launched also aims for bonus system. In the new bonus system, you can get up to ten percent bonuses for large monthly purchases.
The bonus system is not Boyle's idea, but he believes that here, in the promised land of bonus cards, an attention-grabbing innovation is the right way to attract customers to the store.
“I was actually quite surprised by how dedicated the Finns are to bonuses,” says Boyle.
Currently, Lidl's market share in Finland is 9.8 percent.
“We don't have any exact goal, but if expansion continues at the same pace, our market share could increase to 12-13 percent.”
However, according to Boyle, growth is not sought at any price, but operations are developed long-term. Right now, Lidl's future prospects in Finland are good, as the chain's turnover grew by 5.7 percent last year to 1.97 billion euros.
Bonus system too the bigger reason for shopping at Lidl has been the prices. Lidl's affordable prices are explained by many factors. One of the reasons is that the company, as a multinational group, is able to use procurement chains that give it a significant volume advantage over its Finnish competitors.
The current prices will not be waived even under the new CEO. Or especially in his time, Boyle asserts.
“Our goal is still to be the cheapest in Finland. Although, I must say I was surprised at how expensive food is here compared to Northern Ireland.”
For example, the price of cheddar cheese surprised him to such an extent that he sent a picture of the price tag to a Belfast manufacturer he knew.
“On the Finnish market, cheese is cheap, but in Ireland it was maybe 30 percent cheaper. Of course, it's not fair to compare two different countries, because wages, taxes, delivery costs and logistics costs are higher here than in Northern Ireland.”
Even though buying food online has become more common in recent years, Lidl leaves the popularity of online shopping to its competitors. Lidl's previous CEO Nicholas Pennanen said HS in the interview in 2021, that from Lidl's point of view “online shopping is still very expensive”. Boyle agrees.
“We have no plans to move online, but focus on our core business, i.e. physical stores.”
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