Schwarz Group, the parent company of Lidl, wants to expand its IT business along the Amazon model, dpa reported, citing Kreiszeitung.de. Lidl founder Dieter Schwarz is investing in the lucrative cloud business and, according to industry experts, is already one of the largest suppliers in Germany.
Shopping is changing with online ordering and unmanned autonomous supermarkets.
AI Park
An education campus, a programming school, several institutes and soon a large artificial intelligence (AI) research park: with the support of the Schwarz Foundation, more and more research and education facilities are being built from scratch in Heilbronn. The foundation and the state of Baden-Württemberg will initially invest 100 million euros.
The next big project is already on the horizon: the AI park. It is planned to create a kind of circular AI district, designed for 5 thousand employees, on a plot of land with an area of 23 hectares. According to RND.de, the project should be completed in ten years at the latest.
“We want to build an ecosystem here and attract the best cyber minds to Heilbronn,” explains Rolf Schumann, digital head of the Schwarz Group. IT professionals can now choose their jobs – the environment must be suitable. Schwarz IT and Schwarz Digital already employ around 7,000 people.
But there are also problems. “Systems have become so complex that they are no longer manageable. The only chance is to model the system in real time and prioritize weak points,” says Shuman.
The software from Israeli security specialist XM Cyber, which Schwartz bought in late 2021, is responsible for this. As reported on the company’s website, one of the founders is the former head of the Mossad intelligence service, Tamir Pardo.
Cloud platform
This topic is just one of the new pillars on which the Schwarz Group is being built. It is also making a name for itself as a cloud provider with its own data centers in Germany. Stackit is the name of the cloud platform that was originally created by the company – it runs, for example, the online systems of Lidl and Kaufland. During the year, warehouses are also open to companies and administrations.
The process is a bit reminiscent of Amazon, which initially sought a solution for itself and whose cloud service, AWS, is now one of the most widely used services worldwide, says cloud expert Lucas Klingholz of the IT industry association Bitkom.
The system, which was originally developed only for the company itself, is offered to the outside world. “The cloud is not only a relevant high-margin market, but also a market that requires large initial investments. You don’t just come in as a three-person startup. The entrance fee is high.”
Alongside providers such as Deutsche Telekom and Ionos, Stackit is already one of the largest German companies in this field. There are also a number of smaller providers. Providers are looking forward to the potential, especially for administrations, regulated industries, and small and medium-sized companies. However, this concept reaches its limits when it comes to global access to data abroad.
Many medium-sized customers are already using Stackit. The Rewe supermarket group has also put digitization on the agenda. In the fall, the two divisions there merged into “Rewe digital” with approximately 2,200 employees. The aim is to continue IT retail within the Rewe group.
Lidl in Denmark
But Lidl’s expansion is not only in the virtual environment. Following the exit of retailer Aldi from Denmark, Lidl is looking to significantly expand its presence in Germany’s northernmost neighbor. The company confirmed the information to the newspaper at the request of dpa, writes Handelsblatt.de.
The discounter wants to open more than 60 new stores in the country in the coming years, Lidl Denmark CEO Jens Stratmann announced in an article published in March by Danish newspaper Finans. So the goal is to reach 200 Lidl branches in Denmark. So far there are 139 of them.
About the company
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG was founded in 1930 by Josef Schwarz. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Turnover in 2021 amounted to 100.8 billion euros.
Subsidiaries are Lidl France, Lidl Asia Pte. Limited, Lidl Czech Republic. In Romania, Lidl entered the market in 2011. Currently, it has more than 300 stores in all regions of the country and more than 10,000 employees.
(article photo: ©Davidstiller|Dreamstime.com)
Source: Hot News
Lori Barajas is an accomplished journalist, known for her insightful and thought-provoking writing on economy. She currently works as a writer at 247 news reel. With a passion for understanding the economy, Lori’s writing delves deep into the financial issues that matter most, providing readers with a unique perspective on current events.