Royal Ahold, the international food provider, yesterday announced its Dutch supermarket company Albert Heijn is to introduce an easy-to-use customer savings account. Effective February 5, 2001, over 3.7 million Albert Heijn customers can open a savings account for all kinds of transactions including depositing the discounts on products on sale through the bonus card loyalty program in the supermarket.
The customized “Albert Heijn Savings Account” generates an attractive rate of interest over time and the savings are made almost imperceptibly. A range of alternatives include saving the proceeds from bottle return on the Albert Heijn account and upwardly rounding off shopping bills by 5, 10 or 15% and adding the “extra” to the account. Customers can also transfer money from their bank account to the Albert Heijn account. Albert Heijn plans to add other financial services in due course, complementing its already highly popular Customer Fund in which Albert Heijn customers also indirectly hold Ahold stock.
Joint initiative by Albert Heijn and Aegon
Albert Heijn has developed these services with Aegon, the Dutch multinational insurance company. Market research indicates strong customer preference for in-store services that complement the one-stop shopping experience Albert Heijn already offers in almost
700 supermarkets in The Netherlands with sales of approximately Euro 5.3 billion.
The savings account initiative is clearly in line with the Dutch “savings” tradition. Albert Heijn has developed a financial services culture over the last few decades with its popular customer savings stamps. This service was extended in 1992 with the introduction of the Ahold Dutch Customer Fund that currently has over 140,000 participants and assets of more than Euro 400 million. The fund comes largely from stamp-saving customers who exchange their full book of stamps for a stake in ‘their’ supermarket.
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Ahold financial services around the world
Albert Heijn’s new customer savings account is consistent with other financial services already available in other Ahold-operated stores. In the United States, many Ahold supermarkets along the eastern seaboard (Stop & Shop, Giant-Landover, Giant-Carlisle, Tops and BI-LO) lease space to local banks. They offer customers a broad range of financial services, including mortgages, savings, insurances and investment opportunities. Ahold’s Brazilian operation Bompreço has a popular customer credit card, the Hipercard, which is valid at approximately 40,000 establishments throughout the northeast of Brazil. With purchasing power increasing and credit more easily available, the Hipercard has considerably reinforced customer loyalty and is widely appreciated.
Ahold’s joint venture partner ICA in Scandinavia introduced the ICA Bank in November 2000, further enlarging its financial services portfolio and customer base. ICA currently has over six million card holders and operates a system similar to Albert Heijn’s, based on a popular loyalty card.
Important element of multi-channel strategy
Financial services are just one of a range of additional facilities such as internet shopping linked to home delivery that Ahold is developing throughout many of its 8,500 stores in 26 countries. Ahold regards these initiatives as highly complementary to its multi-channel strategy to become the best and most successful food provider in the world through the alignment of core food retail and foodservice business activities. Last week, Ahold reported consolidated 2000 sales of Euro 52.2 billion, a substantial rise of 55.7%, and reconfirmed its sharply higher earnings outlook over 2000.
Background
Royal Ahold operates approximately 8,500 supermarkets, hypermarkets and other store formats in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia with 2000 sales of Euro 52.2 billion. The company is also developing significant experience in the foodservice industry and as an e-commerce player. Ahold employs more than 400,000 associates and serves the food needs of over 30 million loyal customers in 26 countries every week.
In addition to its listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: AHO), Ahold’s shares are trading on the Amsterdam Exchanges and on the Swiss Exchange. Additional information is available on Ahold’s website: http://www.ahold.com.
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By GlobalDataRoyal Ahold press releases may contain ‘forward-looking’ statements. Actual results may differ from such statements as they may have been influenced by factors beyond the company’s ability to control.
