Dive Brief:

• Lidl US has added a quartet of executives to its ranks, including a new chief commercial officer and its first-ever chief customer officer, the German grocery chain announced Thursday.
• Miguel Paradela is taking on the chief commercial officer’s position after serving in a top role for Lidl in Spain.
• Lidl is refreshing its leadership team in the United States under recently appointed CEO Joel Rampoldt as it looks to strengthen its position in a market where it has been slow to gain traction.

Dive Insight:

Paradela and the other newly appointed executives are joining the German retailer’s U.S. division as the company looks to gain traction under a new chief executive.

In his new role with Lidl, Paradela, who will hold the rank of executive vice president and report to Rampoldt, will be responsible for executing the retailer’s buying and merchandising strategy stateside. Paradela most recently served as general manager of purchasing and marketing for Lidl Spain, where he worked for more than 25 years, according to a press release.

Frank Kerr, who is taking on the role of chief customer officer and will report to Paradela, will oversee all “customer-centric activities” as head of a newly created team that will handle functions including consumer insights, marketing, loyalty and promotions, Lidl said. 

Kerr is rejoining Lidl U.S. after earlier working for the company as one of its original 50 employees in the U.S. He most recently served for about a year as a vice president for Lidl International in Germany and from 2018 to 2022 was vice president of retail operations and wholesale sales for Save A Lot, according to his LinkedIn profile. Kerr also previously held sales-related roles for Nestlé.

Lidl also said it has hired Tod Seiling to serve as vice president of fresh, a role in which he will be in charge of procuring all fresh food, including produce, fish, meat and poultry. Seiling, who formerly served as vice president of fresh merchandising for Save A Lot, has also worked for retailers including Walmart, Albertsons, Rouses Markets and Farmland Foods, Lidl said. Seiling will report to Paradela. 

In addition, Lidl has named Michel Chao as vice president and head of marketing. Chao, who will focus on building brand awareness and customer loyalty, worked from late 2020 until last month as senior director of marketing for Dollar General, according to his LinkedIn profile. Chao earlier served as an executive for fabric and crafts retailer Joann Stores and also handled roles in omnichannel and brand marketing for Walmart.

Lidl has struggled to gain market share in the U.S. since opening its first store in the country in 2017, when it said it planned to open 100 stores in just its first year serving U.S. shoppers. The company’s current fleet of approximately 170 locations in nine states and Washington, D.C., represents just a small fraction of the grocer’s more than 12,000 stores around the world.

Rampoldt took over as head of Lidl’s U.S. unit last summer, becoming the fifth person to helm the division since Lidl established its stateside headquarters in 2015. A former partner and managing director of consulting firm AlixPartners, Rampoldt assumed the role in the wake of Lidl’s February 2023 announcement that it was laying off about 200 workers, mostly in its corporate office.