Supermarkets in Denmark

PROSPECTS

Blurred boundaries leads to intensified competition

Changing consumer shopping patterns are blurring the boundaries between grocery channels and bringing retailers into increasingly direct competition with each other. With consumers shifting from regular large-scale shopping trips to more frequent but less regular small-scale local shopping, picking up products as and when needed, retailers are increasingly concentrating their efforts on urban centres.

Targeting upmarket demand trends

Growing health-consciousness and the rise in ethical consumerism are serving to sharpen consumers’ focus on quality in purchasing decisions, providing potential for supermarkets to develop a distinctive, higher-end image in relation to discount-orientated competitors. Coop Danmark has identified two main groups of consumers as the target for its “The Urban Irma 2018-2022” strategy – “idealists”, who support “animal welfare, ecology, vegetarian and plant based food and a better world”, and the “Madelskerne” or “food lovers”, who are particularly interested in the quality and taste of food.

Focus on digital development

Retailers are increasingly focusing on providing convenient shopping options that fit readily into the flow of consumers’ everyday lives. This emphasis on convenience is increasingly embracing the digital technology that has become so embedded in consumers’ lives and, indeed, played such an important role in reshaping their lifestyles.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Coop Danmark holds strong lead

Coop Danmark maintained a strong lead in the supermarkets channel in 2018. The company operates in the channel through two major brands, market-leader, SuperBrugsen, and Irma, which has a more high-end focus.

Focus on differentiation

Coop Danmark’s “The Urban Irma 2018-2022” strategy is targeting the growing influence of health-awareness and eco-consciousness on consumer demand, as well as a growing interest in high-quality food. The strategy involves making Irma “more of a food house with an Irma supermarket”, with the opening of a “street-kitchen”/deli offering more ready-made food options and specialist departments for vegetarians and vegans.

Føtex Food develops in wake of DøgnNetto

The challenge of establishing a distinctive identity in the face of increasingly overlapping competition from other channels has been highlighted by the changing profile of Dansk Supermarked’s store network. In 2016, the company discontinued the DøgnNetto convenience store brand, converting most stores into regular Netto discounters, with the remainder becoming Føtex Food supermarkets – “a scaled-down version of a traditional Føtex store with a focus on food and salads-to-go,” according to the company.

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