French fresh food grocery chain Grand Frais has announced plans to expand its activities to France, opening its first store in the Piedmont region.
Grand Frais is a grocery retailer that aims to recreate the shopping experience of traditional French covered markets. It mainly sells fruit and vegetable, meat and gastronomy products.
Industry Response
The announcement was quickly responded to by the CEO of Italian retailer Conad, Francesco Pugliese, during a speech to the Assembly of Conad del Tirreno in Florence. He said that Conad must react to the challenge presented by new arrivals, reports daily Il Sole 24 Ore.
On Conad's growth agenda is a €1.1 billion investment plan for the 2017-2020 period, which will include acquisitions. Conad aims to become the market leader in three years time, added Pugliese.
Conad's sales were up by 4.8% in the first quarter of 2017.
One of the levers of growth will be private label products, which in April accounted for 29.4% of turnover on average (above 30% in Northern Italy).
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
