Lidl: Prospecting for property

A direct appeal for commercial leads.

The Site

Lidl, a Europe-wide low-price supermarket group, uses its website to gather property leads for its expansion programme.

Country sites throughout the Lidl group use a common template that includes Property as a section in the primary navigation. A common feature of the section is information about the kind of sites the company is looking for to continue its store expansion programme. As well as an address to which they can write, prospective sellers are offered an online form for submitting basic details and an assurance about how soon they can expect a response. The form on the UK website has an added dropdown menu of locations which obviously corresponds to places in the country targeted in Lidl’s expansion plans.

The Takeaway

And why not? If company HR departments can include tailored contact points on their sites for employment agencies and consultants there’s no reason why their property colleagues shouldn’t flag their willingness to entertain commercial estate agents who might be able to help fill a ‘vacancy’. Where Lidl takes it further is, first, in the prominence it gives to the property people – right next to Careers in the main navigation – which sends out a very strong message about how serious it is about growth. And, second, in how well it does the simple things to make its contact point efficient: assurances about how soon to expect a response, an online alternative to the post and, in the UK case, a customised dropdown that will help to minimise speculative but unwanted approaches.

Of course, rivals might well find the UK’s dropdown list useful as an early indicator of where Lidl aims to strike next. Or maybe Lidl would be happy to hear from them, too, if any are looking to reduce their own property portfolio.

First published on 08 November, 2007