How to kick a traditional retailer in the butt?

One of the oldest professions in the world – selling food – hasn’t changed much since the introduction of the supermarket in the 1950’s: customers go to stores to buy food. People have dinner in restaurants.

However, the traditional model is showing cracks: market growth tops off. HelloFresh is scaling up – even more interestingly, they are getting competitors. Deliveroo is changing the restaurant and cooking landscape - there are more drivers waiting in front of restaurants than there are people having dinner indoors. In parallel, non-food is becoming increasingly transparent with Amazon and bol.com fishing volume out of the traditional market.

 

What’s happening? Customer are changing their behaviors – more than ever, they are looking to be inspired and to save time and money.

 

At Delhaize we are fully aware that our customers evolve and that they expect us to be at their side. It is for this reason that we are gearing up for digital growth through embarking on a digital journey in stores as well as online. The road is bumpy and retail remains an industry with a lot of short term pressure, yet the race has started and with Delhaize we’re in there in there to win!

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Jonathan Hertog is leading the Digital & E-commerce team at Delhaize Belgium, long-term traditional food retailer which has been give increasing importance to digital and online over the past couple of years. Jonathan joined Delhaize in 2015 with a growth strategy and M&A background from management consulting.