Delhaize Group says its 200 repositioned Food Lion stores in pilot markets in North Carolina, Tennessee are outpacing other stores in sales growth; Delhaize intends to expand Food Lion's rebranding to 700-800 additional stores by end of 2012

Allison Oesterle

LOS ANGELES , November 15, 2011 (Industry Intelligence) – Delhaize Group has announced that it intends to expand the rebranding at Food Lions LLC to between 700-800 additional stores by the end of 2012 after rebranded Food Lions stores located in test markets in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, outpaced other Food Lion stores in comparable sales gains and experienced “high single-digit” increases in both volume and traffic, Supermarket News reported on Nov. 14.

According to the article, the 200 re-branded Food Lions stores were repositioned so as to emphasize lower prices, selection and service.

Ron Hodge, the executive vice president of the Delhaize Group, further reports that the rebranded stores experienced a better sales mix, indicating that the rebranded stores were attracting a more demographically diverse customer base.

Delhaize officials have not yet announced either the locations of the stores that are slated for rebranding or which elements of the rebranding they intend to replicate in future stores, although they indicated that they intend to do so shortly.

Delhaize’s quarterly sales in the U. S. increased by 3.5% while comparable-store sales increased by only 1.9%. Due to economic pressures, third-quarter sales in U.S.-based Delhaize stores have fallen in comparison to the previous quarter.

For the entire year thus far, Delhaize’s U.S. sales went up by 2.6% to US$14.5 billion, although operating profits have gone down by 4.1% to $673 million.

The primary source of this article is Supermarket News, New York, New York, on Nov. 14, 2011.

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