Ahold Delhaize is looking for growth in acquisitions and retail media

Keep it up Delhaize published its new strategy: over the next three years it wants to achieve 4% annual growth in data, omnichannel products and private labels.

30 million Internet users

There are no major surprises in Ahold Delhaize’s new three-year plan, which is rather a further refinement of the future path. The supermarket group aims to achieve 4% net sales growth per year between 2025 and 2028, with a target operating margin also at 4%. The main beneficiaries should be a total of five billion euros in savings, three billion euros in new revenue sources and thirty million monthly Internet users.

CEO Frans Muller does not put the customer at the center of the new strategy, but consciously advocates a multilateral approach. This means that employees, local communities, products and “portfolio excellence” (through economies of scale) are also part of the six strategic priorities. Just being a supermarket is no longer enough, as the proposed growth model clearly shows.

New business models

Digitization, loyalty and private labels are the weapons of choice. An omnichannel shopper spends up to three times more in the most mature markets, explains Muller. That’s why Ahold Delhaize focuses on loyalty applications and digital content. The retailer aims to achieve more than 80% of its sales through a (digital) loyalty card.

Customer card data is key to additional revenue streams that Ahold Delhaize aims to reach around three billion euros by 2028. The Dutch company wants to promote its retail media data and develop new business models, both B2B and B2C.

American innovation

Private label products should account for 45% of sales in the group’s stores, while price perception must at the same time improve, according to the supermarket group. Therefore, Ahold Delhaize continues to save: by 2028, the group wants to free up five billion euros through pooled sourcing, artificial intelligence and automation, but also by “simplifying the business model” – in other words, restructuring.

“Portfolio excellence” is a key element of the renewed plan, Muller added, suggesting acquisitions but also the sale of redundant subsidiaries. In the United States, the retailer will again focus on Food, Lion AND Hannafordone sec Stop and shop is also being reactivated. One thousand stores will be renovated and additional new supermarkets will be added. In Europe, outgoing CEO Wouter Kolk sees new growth opportunities in the CEE region, partly through acquisitions such as prof in Romania.