The supermarkets in Flanders are fighting a true war over you, the consumer. We immerse ourselves in the battle for three episodes. From sales at a loss, to an unusually hard battle behind the scenes, to the imminent takeover from abroad. An overview
The strategy of the Dutch Albert Heijn in particular is straining the relationships between the various supermarkets in our country. In addition, the Dutch retailer would even sell various well-known products at a loss through all kinds of loopholes. This is evident from inquiries and anonymous testimonies from the retail sector to HLN. It makes it cheaper for these products not to cross the border.
The price war between the supermarkets is not only fought in brochures and commercials. In the battle for the consumer, the game is also played extremely hard at the negotiating table. Negotiators who are not offered a drop of water for hours, staff who are scoffed at and personal attacks. Various stakeholders give us a look behind the scenes. “When I arrived at the retailer’s head office, I wasn’t even allowed to show my presentation. The only message I got was that my prices had to come down because their margin had dropped,” it sounds.
Will only foreign supermarkets be left in the future? The hard battle makes it increasingly difficult for many supermarkets to survive in our country. We are already making our purchases en masse across the border and according to insiders we are all being outdone in Belgium by the Netherlands: “What Albert Heijn is doing is extremely disruptive to the market”, says expert Pierre-Alexandre Billiet. How much do Belgian supermarkets earn? And how big is the difference with our neighboring countries? These numbers don’t lie.
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