Lidl stops selling wine online in Benelux

Lidl has stopped selling wine online through its online shops in Belgium and the Netherlands. The supermarket chain wants to limit itself to selling only non-food items online.

“We want to bring back the focus on our range by focusing exclusively on non-food items online. Of course, our wines will still be available in all physical stores”, Lidl explained to Distrifood.

Active in the Benelux since 2014

In the Netherlands, Lidl opened its online wine store Lidlwijnen.nl in September 2014. Back then, this was actually the supermarket’s first online store in the Western-European country. In Belgium, Lidl opened its online wine shop in September 2016.

‘You will need a glass of wine to process this news’

But both online shops are closing their doors now. On the Belgian website, it says: “The doors of our wine cellar will close definitively on the 26th of May. You will probably need a glass of wine to process this bad news. Or even a whole bottle. That’s why we currently offer you many bottles at unprecedented discounts. And, no worries, you can still find your favorite wine in your Lidl store.”

In Germany, Lidl still sells wine online

In its home market of Germany, Lidl still sells its wine online. But it did take all its foodstuffs from the online assortment, as it wanted to focus solely on wine and nonfood items. So, it looks like Lidl isn’t ready to sell groceries online in Western Europe just yet.

The decision to stop selling wine online in Belgium and the Netherlands might have something to do with the fact the wine market is currently under pressure. In the Netherlands, a total of 226 million liter wine was sold in 2016. This number decreased to 218 million one year later and even declined to 212 million liter in 2018.