Lidl CEO Ryan McDonnell has said the discount grocer is “well stocked for Christmas” following its “localised issues” throughout the summer.
In August, Lidl shoppers took to Twitter to complain about empty shelves and in September, the supermarket giant’s social media team tweeted that it was “experiencing some issues in our distribution centres.”
However speaking of this as Lidl announced its full-year results, McDonnell said: “We are always going to have localised issues from time to time.
“This year has been difficult as well. It’s well publicised and documented that supply chains have been frayed, but nothing fundamental for us. Certainly, localised issues from time to time throughout the summer, but we’re well stocked for Christmas.”
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McDonnell added that the availability issues could have been caused by specific distribution centres, “local delivery issues or ordering issues internally.”
This comes as Lidl is set to overtake Morrisons as the UK’s fifth largest grocer, as an extra 770,000 shoppers flocked through its doors in the last month.
Last week, McDonnell declared that the firm has the “momentum” to surpass its more established rival, adding that there was still “a lot of work to be done.”
The comments come as Lidl said it had taken £58million worth of spending in the past month alone from big 4 grocers Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda, as well as Morrisons.
Earlier this month the grocery retailer also launched its festive advert as part of a charity-focused Christmas campaign headed up by the Lidl Bear, asking customers to donate gifts to its charitable toy bank initiative.
