Germany's Schwarz Group has teamed up with Nextbike to offer rental bicycles at two Kaufland and 18 Lidl outlets in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Initially, Nextbike stations will be set up at outlets in Bochum, Bonn, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Hamm, Herne, Cologne and Oberhausen, with plans to further expanded the partnership in due course.
Nextbike Service
Customers registered with Nextbike can rent the bikes around the clock from Lidl and Kaufland branches offering the service via the Nextbike app.
Parking areas intended for the bicycles feature appropriate floor markings.
All rental bikes are equipped with a bike basket, making it convenient for shoppers to move their purchases.
Rental bikes can be returned within a city area at any Nextbike station, as well as in defined zones directly at the side of the road, the retailer group noted.
Environmental Measures
In April of this year, Kaufland said it scored highly for its efforts to preserve forests and other ecosystems and to ensure compliance with human rights in the supply chain in an analysis by environmental protection organisation WWF.
The WWF rated the Schwarz Group-owned retailer highly on its efforts to prevent deforestation, especially in regard to the cultivation of soy.
Germany's Schwarz Group reported sales of €133.6 billion across its operations in 2021, up from €125.3 billion the previous year. At Lidl, sales were up 4.7% to €100.8 billion, while Kaufland reported a 7.4% increase to €27.3 billion.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
