Lidl’s £500m Expansion: Location, Location, Location

By Paul Alexander, CEO, Beyond: Putting Data To Work

As Kirsty and Phil (and for that matter Kevin McC) never tire of proclaiming location is king.

And Lidl’s announcement of a £500 million expansion across the UK — with plans for over 200 new locations in London alone — is a bold move in a fiercely competitive grocery market. 

But what’s most striking is where the discount supermarket is looking to plant its flagships: Soho, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, and Chelsea — some of the most affluent areas in the country.

At Beyond: Putting Data To Work we believe this strategy highlights a fundamental truth: success isn’t just about scale — it’s about smart scale. 

And that demands a data-led approach to location planning.

Lidl’s play into high-income, low-supermarket-density zones isn’t simply counterintuitive — it’s calculated.

With the right machine learning models, retailers can identify hidden opportunity corridors by layering behavioural data, economic profiles, and footfall trends.

But this only works if the data strategy underpinning those models is coherent, consistent, and commercial.

We’ve seen this in action through our work with DFS. By rethinking how data informs everything from showroom locations to marketing investment, we helped unlock millions in incremental revenue.

Critically, it wasn’t just about predicting where footfall might increase — it was about understanding who those feet belonged to, and what would make them walk through the door.

This is where too many brands fall short.

They collect data, but don’t connect it.

They invest in tools, but not the thinking to power them.

The result?

Store placements that look good on a PowerPoint but falter on the P&L.

Lidl’s move is a wake-up call to traditional retailers: your next store might not be where you expect it to be.

But with the right data and decision-making model, it might just be your most profitable one.