Lidl offers store finder's fee in fight for new customers

Supermarket chain Lidl has said it will pay a finder's fee to anyone who can find a suitable site for a new store as it targets 1,100 sites by 2025.

The fee will be either 1.5% of a freehold price or 10% of the first year's rent for leasehold sites.

For a £1.5m site purchase, Lidl says this would equal a fee of £22,500.

The UK's sixth largest supermarket, which currently has 920 sites, has been growing rapidly and taking market share from the big four supermarket chains.

According to research firm Kantar, over the 12 weeks to 17 April, Lidl and rival discounter Aldi were the fastest growing UK grocers.

The rising cost of living has led to fierce competition between supermarkets on price.

On Thursday, Asda and Morrisons said they were cutting prices on hundreds of products as they try to compete.

Announcing the finder's fee plan, Lidl chief development officer Richard Taylor said the fees were "available to absolutely anyone who can identify a viable option for a new store that we're not already aware of, and we welcome any suitable suggestions".

The retailer has published a list of locations across the country where it is interested in opening stores. This includes places such as Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester and Southampton.

To get the fee, members of the public will have to identify locations that meet the company's site specifications.

Lidl says the finder will receive 50% of the fee at exchange and the other 50% at completion.