How Ahold Delhaize USA is Trying to Bring Back Family-Owned Feel

Ahold Delhaize USA is working to return its banners to the feel they had when they were still family-owned, Giant Food of Maryland's chief marketing officer shared during an event produced by Progressive Grocer's parent company, Chicago-based retail intelligence provider EnsembleIQ.

During his Oct. 4 keynote at the Path to Purchase Expo in Minneapolis, John MacDonald, CMO and VP of Landover, Md.-based Giant, said that the company's "brands need to be creatively and materially different, and be truly local," Progressive Grocer sister brand Shopper Marketing reported. MacDonald added that while it's easy to get caught up in the continual retail news stories such as mergers and acquisitions, ecommerce strategies and new store concepts, Ahold Delhaize USA is trying to stay focused and develop a customer-centric model.

"Instead of being distracted by how we keep up with our competition, we really should keep up with our customers," he said.

Added Stop & Shop SVP and CMO Whitney Hardy: "The consumer is changing and a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing doesn’t work anymore."

In illustration of its aims, Ahold Delhaize USA has already introduced consumer-centric new formats for Stop & Shop in 21 Hartford, Conn., area stores, and for Giant Food Stores, with the urban-focused Giant Heirloom Market, set to open later this year in downtown Philadelphia.

Read the full story from Shopper Marketing.

Ahold Delhaize USA operates more than 1,950 stores under the Food Lion, Giant, Martin's, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop banners, as well as its Peapod grocery ecommerce service. The company is No. 4 on Progressive Grocer's 2018 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States.