Activities (1,3 MB) - Colruyt Group

343.003m2
total store surface area
revenue of EUR 4.973,2 million, which represents a 6% increase
compared to the previous financial year.
Colruyt opened five new stores and renovated or enlarged 12
existing stores. On 31 March 2012, there were 224 Colruyt stores
in Belgium and one in Luxembourg. Four stores were closed
temporarily in connection with renovations.
At the end of the financial year, the total sales surface area
amounted to 343.003 m², a 5,4% increase compared to the
previous financial year.
A Colruyt store that wishes to offer the complete product range
requires a sales surface area of 2.200 m². As the average sales
surface area of a Colruyt store currently amounts to 1.400 m²,
there is still a lot of work to be done. Therefore, it remains
our target to increase the sales surface area by 14.000 m²
annually by means of a combination of expansion and opening
new stores. In Belgium, Colruyt sees potential for around forty
additional stores.
In the annual price survey of the Belgian consumer magazine
Test-Aankoop, Colruyt remains the cheapest supermarket, both
for national brands and for discount products (from Everyday). In
addition, from the winter report of the market research agency
GfK, it appears that the image of the stores appeal to customers
the most. Colruyt has ranked number one in this report for the
elements ‘advantageous’ and ‘friendliness’ already for ten years.
Colruyt also compares its prices with retailers in other countries.
According to its own calculations, Colruyt is on average around
10% cheaper in comparison to other Belgian retailers. This is
sufficient to compete successfully with Belgian and foreign
competitors. Due to the price difference, Colruyt also has many
foreign customers.
In recent years, Colruyt also invested significantly in a higher
quality of its products and that is paying off. In its own blind
tasting tests for meat, vegetables and fruit, Colruyt usually has
the highest score. In the past financial year, Colruyt started to sell
freshly baked bread in around eighty of its stores.
225stores
25,20%
market share in Belgium over 2011
Colruyt reduced its toys product range in favour of the toys
specialist DreamLand. The area that then became available has
been used for freshly baked bread or other food products. This
results in higher revenues as a group and creates room at Colruyt
to create added value within other product ranges.
In November 2011, Colruyt customers could purchase an
exclusive building block box of Westvleteren XII with six bottles of
the famous Trappist beer and two unique beer glasses. This was
the first time that the Trappists of Westvleteren sold their beer
outside the walls of their abbey and worked together with an
external partner for the distribution.
The company also positioned itself even more as a beer specialist
in the past financial year with its 24th cookbook about Belgian
beers. The book has a digital window with QR codes for smart
phones. These codes provide a link to a new ‘Beer Search’ tool
on the culinary website.
‘Delicious Cooking’, Colruyt’s culinary website, was completely
restyled to better meet the customer’s expectations. The site
was equipped with an advanced search engine, a library with
over 1000 recipes and an attractive design.
annual report 2011•2012 00 01 02 03 04 05
75