(gr^
Simplicity (continued)
Saving costs, waste and the
environment through packaging
optimization
Ahold Annual Report 2012 25
Ahold at a glance
Our strategy
Our performance
Governance
Financials
Investors
We are working to optimize the value chain for our own-brand
product lines across all our businesses. One way to do this is by
making our own-brand consumer packaging and the way we
package products for transport better, cheaper and more
sustainable. We're finding ways to reduce the cardboard content of
cases and lower the plastic content of bottles, for example. This is
helping us lower costs to reinvest in our customer proposition, create
packaging that is attractive to customers, reduce fuel consumption
and waste, and improve our carbon footprint.
In Europe, work on packaging optimization is already well underway,
and our companies here are gaining significant savings. For
example, Albert Heijn changed the packaging of its own-brand olive
oil from glass to plastic, a move that was popular with customers,
saved over €500,000, and was beneficial to the environment
because the bottle was lighter and more efficient to transport. Ahold
USA began to put more focus on packaging optimization in 2012.
They are starting to include it in supplier negotiations and review their
portfolio of products. One initiative already underway is a switch
from transporting certain products in cardboard boxes to display-
ready trays that use less cardboard and save labor in the stores.
