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Our portfolio
Our brands
Our formats
Ahold
Annual Report 2011
Group at a glance
Performance
Governance
Financials
Investors
Ahold operates retail businesses in Europe and the United States in markets where we have
clear prospects for sustainable profitable growth. We are number one in almost all of all our major
markets.
Our strong brand portfolio is the foundation of our business. Our local banners are well-known
and popular with customers - and hold leading positions in most of our markets. For example,
Albert Heijn has been the favorite supermarket chain in the Netherlands for almost fifty years and
our U.S. operations - Giant Carlisle, Stop Shop, and Giant Landover - have each held number
one positions for decades. All of our brands are recognized for providing great value, service,
and quality.
Everything we do is based on our brand promise in each market. Our range of successful formats
- from superstores to conveniences stores, the locally targeted assortment of quality products
and services we offer, and the way we communicate with our customers are all a reflection of our
local brands.
The great people we have working for our businesses bring our brands to life for customers each
day. The relationships they build are enabling us to learn more about what our customers want
and need, so that we can keep improving our product ranges and service.
We operate different formats to ensure that we are able to serve our customers well wherever
they live and work.
Supermarkets
We are experts in running supermarkets and they are the core of our business. We operate
supermarkets ranging in size from 400 square meters to 8,400 square meters that offer a full
range of food and food-related non-food products, and an emphasis on fresh products.
At Albert Heijn in the Netherlands we have small, medium, and large supermarket formats as well
as our Albert Heijn XL stores, that can be up to 4,000 square meters in size and carry a wider
range of products, particularly non-food items. In the Czech Republic, our supermarkets range
from 800-1500 square meters. We also operate compact hypermarkets in the Czech Republic
and Slovakia that range in size from 2,500-5,000 square meters. In the United States we have
compact, medium and large supermarkets that range from 3,700-8,400 square meters and carry
a wide variety of food products and a basic non-food assortment. Our largest U.S. supermarkets,
or superstores, carry an expanded range of food and non-food products.
