1 I
l VALUE
F
Guaranteed
I^Y Favored
Performance by segment (continued)
Integrating the customer strategy
into category business decision
making at Ahold USA
Ahold Annual Report 2012 47 Ahold at a glance
Our strategy
Our performance
Governance
Financials
Investors
Capital allocation
Store portfolio development
2012
2011
Stores at the beginning of the year
756
751
New and acquired stores
23
17
Closed and divested stores
(7)
(12)
Number of stores at year end
772
756
Stores remodeled expanded
relocated reconstructed
64
58
Number of stores
2012
2011
Stop Shop New England
219
217
Stop Shop New York Metro
184
183
Giant Landover
171
173
Giant Carlisle
198
183
Total Ahold USA
772
756
Sales area of own-operated stores
(in thousands of square meters)
2,955
2,893
In 2012, the Ahold USA divisions remodeled, expanded, relocated or
reconstructed 64 stores as part of their continuous focus on keeping
stores fresh and up-to-date. Total investments at Ahold USA amounted
to around 3% of sales and ranged from new stores to investments in IT,
distribution centers, and minor construction work in the stores.
Ahold USA increased its number of stores by 16, net of seven closings.
The new stores included 15 Genuardi's stores in the greater
Philadelphia area acquired by Giant Carlisle and converted to its
banner; and two Fresh Green's stores in Baltimore acquired and
converted by Giant Landover. Peapod opened its first eight pick-up
points in 2012.
At the end of 2012, Ahold USA operated 211 fuel stations, an increase
of 20 stations over last year, the majority of which are located in the
Stop Shop New England and Giant Carlisle market areas.
Increased store
portfolio by
16 new stores
Our U.S. divisions continue to develop how they use customer
insights to make decisions about their customer offering and ensure
that customers find the products that they want. This is helping them
make better decisions - and get better results.
In 2012, the U.S. divisions introduced a new assortment tool that
enables them to analyze customer card data and rank products in
the stores by their importance to their best customers. This insight
can then be used by merchandising teams to adjust the assortment
to fit customers' needs. Using this new process, they reset 130
categories and subcategories throughout the stores in all divisions
- representing close to half of their sales. Early results are
encouraging, with sales trends improving in many of the reset
categories. They also used their knowledge about the shopping
behavior of value-conscious "dollar stretcher" customers to
reformulate their Guaranteed Value own-brand product line. They
eliminated dozens of items that were not relevant to these shoppers
and introduced new products that were more appealing. Results
have been very positive, with Guaranteed Value sales up 19%.
