Unexpected decision changes shopping in Hungary’s market leader supermarket chain

The German international discount retailer and Hungary’s market leader in that segment, Lidl, will introduce a drastic measure that will bring significant changes for its customers. According to Világgazdaság, Lidl’s aim is to reduce the number of false ads and discounts in their stores.

The Hungarian economy daily reported that Lidl started installing digital price tags in their stores. The measure was announced in a statement sent to the media outlet. Lidl Hungary said it sought innovation and would like to hinder errors. And there were a lot of examples of the latter. For instance, employees made mistakes in their Kalocsa store and put a HUF 4 (EUR 0.011) lower price on sour creams.

Digital price tags enable the change of prices and the dissemination of other information centrally. As a result, the number of pricing errors can be mitigated. Furthermore, the staff will not have to print and display the new prices in the store. Therefore, they will use less paper, which is also benefits the environment.

Világgazdaság argues that the decision came out of the blue though there were harbingers. In April, Lidl Hungary said they were discussing the possibility of such a measure. The statement came after the decision of the Portuguese Lidl to change traditional price tags to digital ones after a successful test period.

Following the model of Portuguese supermarkets

Thanks to the previously mentioned action, the Portuguese Lidl subsidiary may save up to 400 kilograms of paper in each of their stores, which is a considerable amount. Világgazdaság believes that the Hungarian stores have the potential to achieve similar results. In Portugal, Lidl saves 108 tonnes of paper. That means saving 1,485 trees. Based on the Portuguese model, all Lidl stores will switch to digital price tags until the first half of 2024.

Digital price tags enable real-time price changes and the communication of other vital information. Thus, this move improves store efficiency. Due to the automated stock management system, all data changes within seconds.