Leuven Case Competition
1. The Case Colruyt Group is proud to be a partner company in this live 7th edition of Leuven Case Competition. In this selection round we challenge you to use all your business skills and know-how, and solve the following case study question.
Which e-service should Collect&Go provide to bring more ease to your life in the city? The Goal: •
Look at the complete customer journey
•
Think of a business solution that is sustainable, feasible and future proof
•
Develop a cost-effective marketing strategy
Key considerations: •
Cost-effectiveness
•
Sustainability
•
Feasibility
•
Future-proofing
The Scope: •
Online & phygital solutions
•
Focus on food
•
Focus on how to make Generation Y use our service
•
Solution for city centre and outskirts
•
Concept in harmony with Colruyt Group’s values
This brochure contains a summary of the most interesting and useful facts about Colruyt Group, our history, our present activities, and our future plans. If necessary you can also find more information on our website and our annual report with sustainability reporting, it will help you to put together a solution for this case.
We hope you and your team enjoy the challenge and we look forward to hearing your pitch. Best of luck!
2. Colruyt Group A brief history From its humble beginnings as a bakery and family business in 1928, Colruyt Group has been expanded over three generations to become a leading sustainable business in 2022. Many of the founding concepts of the first Colruyt supermarket in 1964 continue to be applied today. Take the notion of ‘simplicity in retail’ for instance. It was introduced by Jo Colruyt and remains high on the agenda today.
On environmental issues, Colruyt was keen to show its commitment to sustainability in the 1990s with its Green Line & Transport Charter and its first windmill in Halle. Fast forward to the 21st century and Colruyt Group introduced Eco-score labels on its products in 2021.
Commercial Activities Today, we employ around 33,000 people in Belgium, Luxembourg and France and have a diverse portfolio of food and non-food products and services. Retail remains our core business (>80% of sales), and includes online and physical retail operations such as Colruyt supermarkets, Collect&Go, Bio-Planet, Dreamland, Dreambaby, and Okay, among others. Over the ever, we have diversified into other areas like solar and wind energy production, wholesale, and mobility services (Bike Republic).
The Group’s Mission
Our Values
From its humble beginnings as a bakery and family business in 1928, Colruyt Group has been expanded over three generations to become a leading sustainable business in 2022.
Colruyt Group is a family business. And in 2022 that is still quite a unique feat. Over three generations we have established a set of values that are reflected in every project that we undertake.
We might be a large company but we strive to create a small company culture and atmosphere, in which everyone cooperates and works together to create sustainable added value for our customers.
• Respect for all. Whatever background, culture, appearance, interests, skills.
Colruyt Group’s
• Togetherness. Because it’s easier to do things well if we work as a team.
mission is to create
Harnessing the creative power of our employees is a crucial part of this mission, because by helping our people to develop their skills, we can put into practice our innovative ideas. Which in turn will contribute to a more positive experience for our customers and partners. And will ultimately benefit the planet we live on.
Commercial Activities Today, we employ around 33,000 people in Belgium, Luxembourg and France and have a diverse portfolio of food and non-food products and services. Retail remains our core business (>80% of sales), and includes online and physical retail operations such as Colruyt supermarkets, Collect&Go, Bio-Planet, Dreamland, Dreambaby, and Okay, among others. Over the years, however, we have diversified into other areas like solar and wind energy production, wholesale, and mobility services (Bike Republic).
• Readiness to serve. Or else why are we in the retail business! • Simplicity. The holy grail of efficiency and sustainability. • Faith in people. Which will incite them to do their absolute best. • Hope. That our time and resources will produce the desired results.
sustainable added value together through value-driven
• Space. To take a step back and consider what we are doing.
craftsmanship
• Courage. And a positive attitude as well as a creative approach to enterprise.
in retail
• Strength. With which we master our trade, enjoy satisfaction and fulfilment.
3. Our Sustainability Promise We believe it is important to do our bit for the planet and we take sustainability into account in everything we do, always keeping in mind the long-term results. • That means supporting local producers and investing in our own sea farm. • It also means helping customers to think carefully about the carbon footprint of their purchases, with the Eco-store label. • It translates into continued investment in renewables. Our customers can now get green electricity directly from DATS 24. Moreover, we remain committed to our Green Hydrogen programme, and have recently chalked up another ‘retailing first’ in Europe with the testing of a 44-tonne hydrogen truck in partnership with InBev. • Lastly, our sustainable activities are now fully integrated in the annual report so that the public, our stakeholders, and our investors know just how serious we are about greening up.
Our Sustainable Approach in Action As the world wakes up to its responsibilities, we have committed to playing our part by finding innovative and sustainable solutions, using the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a guide. We have simplified this by introducing four step-by-step goals (health, society, environment, and animal welfare) in order to communicate openly with our customers and employees.
Here are some examples of our continuing creativity in these 4 areas:
• Chef Point – A takeaway service for fresh healthy food in strategic locations • Smartwithfood app – A coaching app to help improve your health one mouthful at a time • Okay Direct Store – A new self-service store concept for 24/7 shopping, autonomous access & payment with Xtra card, which makes our customers’ lives even easier.
• The Collibri Foundation – A nonprofit initiative to offer young people in difficult situations, in Belgium and abroad, more opportunities for success. • Providing small coffee and tea farmers in producing countries with a fair income and supporting their efforts in sustainable farming.
• Vertical farming – A high-tech vertical farm, growing plants with minimal environmental impact, such as basil [SDG 9 & 12] • Eco-score label – A label on products helping customers to make informed and eco-friendly decisions about their purchases.
• Our stores only sell meat that comes from animals that have been stunned before slaughter. • We have undertaken to implement highest animal welfare criteria based on the Better Chicken Commitment by 2026.
4. Collect & Go KEY C&G DATA •
22 yrs in operation
•
10K orders/day
•
221 collection points
•
29K visitors to website/day
•
> 450 FTEs
A brief history of Collect&Go More than 20 years ago, almost before any of us knew how all-embracing the digital life would be, Colruyt Group launched the online Collect&Go grocery service to make life & shopping easier for its customers.
Collect&Go is now a market leader in the online food market, employing over 450 FTEs, and offering a huge range of food and near food products. In line with our core values, we continue to innovate and expand in response to the demands of today’s even busier and more tech-savvy consumers. Ultimately, we aim to make their food journey as easy as possible.
The Service Using Collect&Go’s website or app, customers can select from a huge range of goods from Colruyt and Bio-Planet. After choosing a pick-up time, they then pay for and collect their groceries at one of Collect&Go’s 221 collection points – Colruyt, OKay, Bio-Planet and stand-alone outlets – in Belgium and Luxembourg, 6 days a week. Of course, Colruyt Group’s core principles of quality, reliability, craftsmanship and personal service also apply to this online service as well. As do our core principles of quality, reliability, craftsmanship and personal service.
The Assortment
Distribution
There are approx. 8.500 items available for purchase on Collect&Go at any one time, and 93% of those are permanently in stock. In terms of revenue and units sold, Coca Cola and water top the charts, while bananas, potatoes and courgettes are our bestselling weighed items.
Order-picking is currently mainly carried out (75%) in Colruyt and Bio-Planet shops, with our store employees collating customer orders in our re-usable plastic boxes. The remaining 25% is taken care of by the distribution centres in Londerzeel and Erpe-Mere.
As shown in the pie charts below, general food products account for the highest share of sales and items sold in Belgium and the big cities. Fresh produce comes in a close second, followed by meat and frozen items, and the smallest percentage is cold meats.
In autumn 2021, Collect&Go moved distribution to the 18,000 m2 centre in Londerzeel. Currently, this is a dual-purpose site including a test space for innovative supply chain concepts. & .Over the next 3 years, the Londerzeel site will be entirely dedicated to food delivery to Collect&Go collection points. This will mean greater efficiency and job creation, and ties in to our vision for online food shopping in the coming decade.
Info assortiment
COVID-19 – threat and opportunity
Share sub department in # references Belgium
Share sub department in turnover VAT in Belgium
Frozen food
Frozen food
Food
Food
Cold sliced meat
Cold sliced meat
Fresh products
Fresh products
Meat
Meat
The pandemic provided us with many challenges. But also with a unique opportunity. Almost overnight, the demand for online grocery shopping exploded. As a result, Collect&Go experienced unprecedented growth in 2020, with a 50% increase in sales and 140.000 new customers, 20% of whom were new to Colruyt Group. Here are some of the key measures that were taken to ensure continuity of service and meet the dramatic increase in online purchases during the pandemic. • Better use of infrastructure • Expansion of collection slots • Redeployment of personnel
Share sub department in turnover VAT in the 4 biggest
Frozen food Food Cold sliced meat Fresh products Meat
• Investment in more resources • Stimulation of inter-company collaboration It was a steep learning curve but Colruyt Group invested the necessary resources so that our personnel could, with their usual professionalism, innovate and grow Collect&Go into an online service fit for this new era.
What’s new in 2022
Our vision for the future
Thanks to members of our extensive IT team the Collect&Go website has recently been transformed, with features that reflect the modern customer’s need for ease of use and speed of use. These include the option to change reservations up to 9am day before pick-up, optimised checkout, and purchasing prompts based on history. There is also extra content on recipes and tips on a healthy diet (e.g. mocktail ideas for ‘Tournee Minerale’).
Ecology, Economy, Society
Other new features include: Meal boxes - This concept helps our customers to cook healthy and tasty without the burden of extensive planning. It even helps the customers to keep a diet (recipes, portion sizes, allergen info formulated by dietary experts) and ease of use. DEALS! – A new and exciting platform that allows customers to enjoy bulk deals of well-known brands. Home delivery service – We firmly believe that many of our existing and potential customers would love to use Collect&Go but don’t have the time or transport to pick up their shopping. With this in mind, we have launched a home delivery service in several regions of Belgium in 2020. With this in mind, we are launching several initiatives to offer home delivery service.
Currently, our customers tend to order their big weekly shop online. Our goal is to expand our role to all consumer touch points linked to food. As a group, we want to support consumers at every moment and location, to fulfill every need across every possible food journey. By focusing on the right pricing and where possible using local producers to provide a sustainable and healthy assortment, as well as offering flexible home-delivery services, Collect&Go hopes to entice young and eco-aware professionals to use this service. However, we are also continuously on the look-out for new and innovative ideas to make Collect&Go more relevant in their lives. Finally, and as ever, with an eye on our commitment to the SDGs, Colruyt Group is committed to investing in highly skilled and creative people and cutting-
5. Background info 5.1 Colruyt Group’s position in today’s market • With its diverse range of food and retail concepts, Colruyt Group is at the crossover between Horeca, FMCG Retail and Parapharmacy. • As a multichannel retailer, with a healthy 29% share of the offline food retail market, Collect&Go, Colruyt, Okay, Bio-Planet, Cru, and independent Spar supermarkets collectively compete against Albert Heijn, Lidl, Carrefour etc, and discounters like Action and Kruidvat. • Colruyt Group has only a limited presence in Horeca but is looking to increase its slice of the food acquisition pie with its Chef Point food trucks, Collect&Go Meal Boxes and investment in more home delivery services.
5.2. Our target group: Generation Z-Y – The Profile Who are they?
Different customer types
Opinions vary on precisely where Generation Y ends and Generation Z begins, but for the purposes of this case study we would like you to focus on your own generation, i.e. 20-30 year olds.
As in any other generation, there is a wide spectrum of customers. For the extrovert on social media who likes to share their shopping experiences and the foodies in this generation, there is Cru. For the budget-conscious students or young families who focus more on lowest prices and promotions, we offer Colruyt Lowest Price Guarantee. And Bio-Planet is the go-to for health-conscious 20-30-somethings looking for a wider range of organic products.
They were born into the digital era and are at home with the latest technology in terms of social media and online commerce. In general, they are also better educated than the preceding generation. BuBusiness Developers and marketers, they can be a difficult generation to define and target. • This generation has been greatly affected by a pandemic that has completely turned their student life, work life and social life upside down.
One thing is certain: Generation Y-Z likes to buy online and is comfortable doing so. Tip: this food acquisition model could help to guide your group discussions. Think about which factors could drive the food acquistion of a 20-30y old and which of those motivations you want to address with your solution/service.
• They also witnessed, and perhaps took part in, the student demonstrations for the planet, and livestreamed the first tourist spacecrafts being launched into space..
Here are just three key marketing insights: • This target market ‘share’ their purchases with friends • They are not shy about trying different brands • This generation trusts products endorsed by their peers • They are far more aware of the impact of their buying habits • They are price-conscious and open to good and sustainable bargains (e.g. second-hand shopping)
Conviviality Passion for food Care for the family
Progressive authenticity
Routine
Control
Price & promotion
Introverted
We
According to Angela Woo at Forbes.com, economically, this generation has been uniquely challenged. However, they often have greater buying power than their parents and shop in an altogether different way. They also like the full-on experience as much as the product itself.
Freedom
Me
How do they shop?
Online food acquisition provides an answer
Extroverted
5.3. The cities involved The cities taking part in the Leuven Case Competition are Ghent, Leuven, Antwerp and Brussels. Just as with individual customer types, there are differences in population types. For instance, Antwerp and Brussels are on the whole more cosmopolitan and international cities than Ghent and Leuven, with larger populations of Dutch, Turkish, Moroccan and Italian residents. Brussels also has the youngest average population; and overall in Belgium, more 25-30 year old men than women are moving back in with their parents. Here are some of the general population stats for your city: 1 January 2022
Total Population
Men
Women
Antwerp
532.521
267.368
265.153
Brussels city
189.850
97.232
92.618
Ghent
265.389
132.458
132.931
Leuven
102.362
51.164
51.198
Students: It is difficult to get hold of specific numbers of students in higher education in each of the four cities, but university enrolment 2020/2021 is reported as follows: • Antwerp university: appr. 20.000 • Brussels universities: appr. 86.000 (1/4 of student population in Belgium) • Ghent university: appr. 44.000 • Leuven university: appr. 60.000