Food Lion 2008 Annual Report Download - page 14
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Distinct Assortments
Concept differentiation is one of the engines
of our business. Because we believe food
retail is at its core a local enterprise, our
assortments are distinctive and customized
to meet local market needs. At the same time,
passion for food is a common denominator
throughout our network. All our stores offer
a broad variety of fresh products, private
and national brands, and prepared meals.
We encourage our customers to discover
new tastes, convenient cooking and healthy
eating at affordable prices.
Attractive Fresh Products
Fresh products represent an important part
of our stores’ locally differentiated offering.
At Sweetbay we offer an extensive exotic
produce offering, customized to the Hispanic
community in the Florida market. Also Food
Lion adapted its offering in a cluster of stores
in the Raleigh, North Carolina market to
cater to the needs of the growing Hispanic
population in that area.
As a response to the current powerful health
trend, several of our already state-of-the-
art fresh produce departments have been
complemented with self-service counters
offering pre-sliced salads, vegetables
and fruits. In early 2008, three Hannaford
stores introduced
Cooking-Show-to-Go
,
a combination of fresh ingredients and
pre-sliced vegetables with easy-to-use
instructions, ideally suited for consumers
that want to cook healthy but lack the
knowledge, inclination or time to start with
raw ingredients. In 2008, Delhaize Belgium
launched an equally convenient concept with
Diet-in-the-Box
, featuring practical, healthy
and light meal concepts.
Customer Knowledge
A successful local retailer knows and
understands its customer base. This know-
ledge comes from a thorough understanding
of the market through continued in-depth
research. Food Lion, using this approach, has
developed expertise in segmenting markets
and clustering stores for a number of years
now. In 2008, this segmentation and clustering
work continued. Two customer segments
were further developed and the assortments
in the stores where these segments are
over-represented were adapted. This market
specific approach continues its success: all
Food Lion markets renewed in 2007 reported
comparable store sales growth above the
Company’s average. During 2009, Food Lion
has plans to customize its web-site content
towards segment preferences.
Cooking Convenience
Consumers are increasingly looking for
attractive alternatives to restaurant visits but
they do not always want to cook at home.
Almost all our stores, therefore, offer prepared
meal programs or an extended range of
freshly prepared deli items. In the U.S., the
2008 roll-out of the prepared meal program,
On the Go Bistro
, came at the right moment.
This assortment of chilled prepared meals
of restaurant quality was introduced at Food
Lion, Bloom, Hannaford and Sweetbay and
represents an important engine of growth.
The program was developed in cooperation
with Delhaize Belgium’s longstanding partner
in the prepared meal program. At Delhaize
Belgium, the number of prepared meals
continued its phenomenal success with
almost 23 million meals sold. In Greece, the
prepared meals program now includes 405
items. Alfa-Beta sold 7.5 million such meals
in 2008, a 15% increase over 2007.
Concept Differentiation
Creating local distinctiveness is a key element of Delhaize Group’s go-to-
market strategy. Delhaize Group wants to meet diverse consumer needs
for smart and fast shopping, a large choice in convenient food products,
and products that cater to their increasing appetite for healthy foods. The
continuous renewal of stores and assortments is therefore essential. The
ultimate objective is that customers say: “My store feels like ME!” and that
all their food needs are met “within Delhaize Group walls.”