Lidl Sverige sells fruit and vegetables grown to classical music

Lidl in Sweden has launched a new image campaign to get closer to the Swedish consumer. Starting this week, the discounter is offering vegetables grown to the music of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Since June, Lidl has installed speaker systems on more than 20,000 square meters of suppliers’ plantations of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, herbs and apples across Sweden. In front of the shelves, customers can identify the unusual produce by a G-clef sign and the slogan ‘I grew up with the melodies of the Royal Harmonic Orchestra’. According to the discounter’s website, classical music can increase the seed yield of peas by up to 33%. The innovative marketing approach is supported by a scientific study commissioned by Lidl and published by the Swedish Research Institutes RISE entitled ‘Soundscapes in Plant Cultivation’.

The promotion is supported by a major national marketing campaign. On Lidl Sverige’s website, visitors can listen to a preview of 31 works of classical music performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Lidl is using its loyalty app to strengthen its local anchoring. Members of the Lidl Plus loyalty program receive a 20% discount at the Stockholm Concert Hall. Customers cannot only get a discount on tickets for classical music events. Almost 20 partner offers from Swedish companies and organizations are available via the app. These include the Astrid Lindgren theme park, tickets for the Swedish national handball team and the Swedish ice hockey association.

The German discounter has to be creative in a retail environment dominated by large domestic players. Although it has been in the market for more than 20 years, Lidl is still a niche player in Swedish food retailing and has been in the red. Lidl is the only foreign retailer in a highly concentrated market. According to the latest available full market data for 2022, market leader ICA Gruppen takes 50% of the market, Axfood 21%, Coop 17% and Lidl 6%. Latest YouGov figures on Lidl place this figure at currently 7.9%. The discounter puts its sales growth for the fiscal year ending February 2024 at ‘more than 11%’, higher than the 7.5% growth of the Swedish food retail market. And although Lidl has managed to increase its foothold, direct competitor Willys, Axfood’s discount format, grew by 16.8% in local currency last year. In the long term, Lidl, who currently operates 204 stores, sees potential for 300 stores in the country.