There’s a particular kind of pleasant surprise when something you expected to be rubbish turns out to be genuinely useful. The Lidl Plus app falls into that category for me. Retailer loyalty apps have a reputation, and it isn’t a flattering one. They exist to harvest your shopping data, and everyone knows it. But Lidl Plus has quietly evolved into something that offers a fair enough exchange to make it worth your while.
The Re-turn Integration is Clever
The standout feature for me recently has been the Re-turn deposit scheme integration. Now, I we all know that recycling is good, but the deposit return scheme is a little annoying.
Lidl has connected the in-store machines directly to the app, so when you do a drop-off, you scan a QR code and then the credit lands in your Lidl Plus balance. Then, when you pay with Lidl Pay at the till, it comes straight off your total.
That’s a genuinely elegant bit of joined-up thinking. Instead of getting a paper voucher you’ll inevitably lose at the bottom of a bag, the credit sits in your app and applies automatically. It’s one of those features where you wonder why it took this long, and then feel quietly impressed that someone finally did it.
Yes, They Want Your Data. Here’s What You Get Back.
Let’s not be naive about what’s happening here. Every coupon you activate, every item you scan, every receipt stored in the app is building a detailed picture of your shopping habits. Lidl knows what you buy, when you buy it, and how price-sensitive you are to various products. That’s the trade.
The question is whether what you get in return justifies it. For most regular Lidl shoppers, I’d argue it does, for a few reasons.
The weekly coupons and Super Savers are the bread and butter. You activate them in the app, scan at the till, and the discount applies instantly. No clipping, no paper, no fumbling. The member-only prices on certain lines mean you’re quietly paying less than someone standing next to you at the shelf who didn’t bother downloading the app.
The “Just for You” personalised offers are hit and miss early on, but they do improve over time. If you buy a lot of a particular category, you’ll start seeing relevant discounts rather than coupons for things you’d never touch.
The Points System: Temper Your Expectations
The Lidl Points system is worth having but worth being realistic about. You earn points on normal shopping, and they can be exchanged for free products or money-off vouchers. A litre of milk? Absolutely achievable in a reasonable timeframe. A premium cut of steak? You’ll be waiting a while.
That said, it’s still something for nothing, which is more than you’re getting without the app. The scratch card you get after a qualifying spend of €10 or more adds a small bit of fun to the routine. Free pastries, snacks, or a few euro off come up often enough that people notice. It’s not life-changing, but it’s consistently pleasant in a low-key way.
One Genuine Frustration
The coupon activation process has one real flaw, and it’s worth flagging. You can absolutely walk into Lidl, buy something that has a coupon attached to it, and pay full price because you didn’t activate the offer beforehand. The system doesn’t automatically apply discounts you’re eligible for. You have to go in, find the coupon, activate it, and then scan.
It’s a mild annoyance rather than a dealbreaker, and to be fair, logging in after the fact to see what deals you could have used does sometimes surface an offer worth going back for. But a smarter system would flag relevant activated coupons as you approach the till. That might be asking a lot, or it might be a deliberate friction point. Either way, it’s the one area where the experience feels slightly unfinished.
Also one of the stores I regularly visit has poor signal, and no Lidl has a Wi-Fi connection.
Is It Worth It?
If you shop at Lidl regularly anyway, yes, without much hesitation. The app is free, the savings are real if modest, and the Re-turn integration alone is worth setting it up for. You’re handing over your shopping data, and you should go in clear-eyed about that. But the discounts, the digital receipts for budgeting, and the occasional freebie make the exchange feel reasonably fair.
It won’t transform your finances, but it’ll take a few euro off your weekly shop with very little effort on your part. For a free app you open once a week, that’s a decent return. It may even open a portal to a world of Lidl Mobile discounts in the coming years.
