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Page 28 INTERNATIONAL SUPERMARKET NEWS
Online Version. www.internationalsupermarketnews.com
News
The decision to charge
consumers for plastic bags
has proven to be successful
in dramatically reducing the
amount of bags in circula-
tion. This has been achieved
by high profile campaigns,
fashion statements of alter-
natives to plastic and strate-
gies in raising awareness on
the environment.
The use of plastic bags at
Marks and Spencer has
dropped by 80% from 460
million to eighty million.
Retailers that have created
incentives around not using
plastic bags have also done
well. Tesco, who offers a
green point for every bag re-
used, has seen a decline of
plastic bag use of 50% since
its scheme was launched in
2006. This has resulted in
the saving of three billion
bags. An impressive 1.8
billion bags have been saved
by the chain in the past year
alone.
Sainsbury's has a different
approach to discouraging
the increased use of plastic
bags. They send a text mes-
sage to remind their custom-
ers to re-use.
The total number of bags
in circulation dropped from
13.4 billion in 2006 to 9.9
billion last year. It it hoped
that the near future will see
a reduction of five billion
bags per year in England,
Scotland, Wales and North-
ern Ireland.
Usage of plastic bags declines
by 1.8 billion in last year
Dutch food retailer Royal Ahold has exceeded market expectations
with its first quarter announcement of a rise in revenue. Reasons cited
for the steady climb are increased consumer confidence at all of its
central chains, and a strengthened dollar boosting share prices.
Ahold&apos's sales rose 15.2% to EUR8.7 billion from EUR7.51
billion a year earlier, in line with a Dow Jones Newswires poll of six
analysts which called for EUR8.6 billion. In constant currencies, they
were 6.2% higher.
Sales at Ahold's key U.S. chains, Stop & Shop and Giant-
Landover, rose 3.7% to $6.79 billion from $6.55 billion a year earlier.
Translated into euros, net sales in the U.S. rose 19.2%, with same-
store sales up 3.1% at Stop & Shop and 3.6% at Giant-Landover,
Ahold said.
"In Europe and the U.S., our performance remained solid and we
continued to focus on striking a balance between sales growth, market
share and margin," the company said in a statement.
At 0828 GMT, Ahold shares traded up 5.7% at EUR8.71 in an overall
higher AEX market. Its shares have fallen around 11% over the past
12 months, strongly outperforming the AEX market, which has fallen
around 47%.
SNS Securities analyst Richard Withagen said Ahold's sales
were "very good," and noted that the retailer's performance was
better-than-expected at almost all of its operations, particularly at the
Giant-Landover chain. Withagen rates Ahold at buy.
In March, Chief Executive John Riston said that Ahold&apos's strong
performance in the U.S was mainly the result of the rebranding of its
Stop & Shop and Landover grocery chains and the completion of its
two-year "Value Improvement Program", in which Ahold lowered
prices at its U.S. stores and cut costs across the group.
KBC Securities analyst Pascale Weber said Ahold's solid
performance proves that this program continues to bear fruit, given
that inflation in the U.S. has fallen over the past months. Weber rates
Ahold at accumulate.
At Ahold's Albert Heijn unit in the Netherlands, sales were
up 12.3% to EUR3 billion, partly due to the conversion of former
Schuitema stores it acquired from CVC Capital Partners Ltd. Sales
at the Albert/Hypernova chain in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
dropped 3.9% to EUR491 million.
Royal Ahold exceeds
expectations for first
quarter
By Ben Bricknell
After a report was carried out by
independent research body ESA,
it has been found that the four
mainstream supermarkets in the
UK are now cheaper than premium
discounters such as Aldi, Lidl and
Netto. The results were taken from a
list of forty-nine staple items includ-
ing bread, milk, cheese, sausages
and beer.
Aldi has been found in some cases
to be as much as �12 more expen-
sive than Asda, and Lidl �4 dearer
than Tesco. Lidl are now also found
to be �8 steeper in prices than Asda.
A trolley of the same goods was
bought at each of the competing
stores and the results, with the most
expensive first, are:
Aldi: �31.45
Lidl: �27.60
Netto: �26.39
Morrison's: �25.37
Tesco: �23.32
Sainsbury's: �21.98
Asda: �19.44
Aldi has defended itself claiming
it is impossible to buy goods more
cheaply at a mainstream store than
at a premium discounter (Hate to
be the fly in the ointment Aldi, but
ESA...), whilst Lidl has argued that
it is not solely about offering con-
sumers the cheapest prices. It's also
about quality. That almost registers
as a refreshing thought.
There have been complaints in some
quarters that, while mainstream
chains may be crowing over their
coup of discount stores, there is
little empathy being shown to the
struggling customers they are there
to provide for. Well said.
Mainstream supermarkets now
cheaper than discounters

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