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Ahold Delhaize
Ahold Delhaize USA’s Local Brands In the United States, Ahold Delhaize
What accounts for this stunning success in an often precaricurrently has eight companies, each with ous industry? Muller credited “a strong operating model with their own distinct histories and characters: our leading local brands, supported by service brands who opFood Lion erate at scale and that leverage their best capabilities globally.” Salisbury, N.C.: established 1957, This advantage is brought home by Ahold Delhaize USA 1,029 stores, 404 pickup points CEO Kevin Holt, who discusses the company’s inner workings FreshDirect and expectations, here and abroad, with Progressive Grocer. Bronx, N.Y.: established 2002, e-grocer “Actually, that’s a really important value point that we have between our operations in Europe and our operations in the The Giant Co. U.S.,” affirms Holt, using Selma Postma, chief digital officer, Carlisle, Pa.: established 1923, Ahold Delhaize Europe and Indonesia, as a prime example. 186 stores, 159 pickup points “Selma actually is in the Netherlands, and she now runs the Giant Food digital practice for Europe, but we had her in the U.S. for two Landover, Md.: established 1936, years and she ran [e-commerce division] Peapod for us, and 164 stores, 144 pickup points then we had her at Stop & Shop. So we basically take that Hannaford executive learning and have allowed that experience set so Scarborough, Maine: established 1883, that when Selma goes back, she’s in a better place.” 183 stores, 102 pickup points Of course, that information exchange doesn’t end there. The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. “We continue to look at how do we build that experience Quincy, Mass.: established 1914, set and exposure for our executives in order to get more 408 stores, 319 pickup points well rounded in the global view of what we’re trying to do,” Peapod Digital Labs explains Holt. “We also have picked some key areas that we Chicago: established 1989, e-commerce think are important, and one example of that would be autoengine of Ahold Delhaize USA mation. From an automation point of view, we’re both moving more and more towards automation and everything that Retail Business Services we do from our supply chain. We’re also looking at micro-fuloffices in Quincy, Salisbury, Carlisle and Scarborough: established 2017, fillment centers, or what we call home shopping centers.” shared services company Beyond sharing executive expertise across brands and of Ahold Delhaize USA continents, Ahold Delhaize strives to make use of that mastery in a meaningful, practical way. “What can we do together to … have the very best experience set around what’s working, what’s not working?” muses Holt. “How kinds of things that we’re talking about, the medo we build our three- to five-year plans? How do we dia platforms that we’re talking about building, then work with vendors on a global level, from global and how we would move forward with those.” contracting [to] how we would do those kinds of things? One area in particular where the company’s Then, how do we share best practices European operations have and trends against what’s happening proved beneficial to the U.S. across the globe? This is how we brands is sustainability. “We “We’ve been in actually apply that to some of these wouldn’t, I don’t think, be the business of serving key areas that are really important to us, where we think there’s a great deal customers for more of synergy. That’s possible both from than 150 years and a capability side as well as from a learnings point of view.” have a long track Holt brings up a further advantage of this way of working: easy access record of always to proprietary technology and other delivering for our processes. “If you think about our machine learning and all of our AI key stakeholders.” intelligence-type work, we’ve built a —Frans Muller, common platform,” he points out. President and CEO, Ahold Delhaize “So, if we build an algorithm in the U.S., that algorithm is published and it’s available to our folks in Europe, and vice versa. That’s been very successful for us in terms of being able to share the data science side of the business that we’re also working with as we think about things like personalization and a lot of other areas, insights and the 20
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