Delhaize said today (6 August) that it will continue to increase its market share in Belgium, with an emphasis on improving pricing.
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CEO Pierre-Olivier Beckers told analysts that the company will increase its market share in the country driven by its “go-to-market” strategy, based on improving its price perception.
“We are going to invest constantly on price reduction …we are now lower priced than the similar Aldi products and constantly we are adjusting those prices to our competition. Another driver is our strong differentiation in quality, assortment and in freshness, which I think our customers have understood and that is why we are confident,” Beckers said.
The company this morning posted an increase in first-half profit and reaffirmed its full-year guidance.
Net profit for the six-month period reached EUR252m (US$362.8m), a 15.4% increase on the previous year. Revenue climbed 3.6% at identical exchange rates.
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By GlobalDataThe company said it was on track to improve its cost structure by EUR100m and to generate EUR50m in working capital improvements this year.
“We are still on target with costings,” Beckers told analysts. “The team are working hard … so we don’t see any reason at this stage to not be leaders and reach our target. We are really starting to deliver results and we are confident of reaching the EUR50m.”
Amid signs of a price war among US retailers, Safeway last week said it was implementing a new pricing strategy on a market-by-market basis, using information on customers to target pricing and promotional activity.
Beckers today defended the company’s position, saying it felt that Delhaize was still “very competitive” in that environment.
“The market place is pretty competitive but we feel very very good about the position we’ve taken on price reductions relative to all of our competitors … we think we’re in a pretty good spot.”
