Colruyt Group is a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
family-owned
A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willingn ...
retail
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...
corporation that is managing the
Colruyt
Colruyt Group is a Belgian family-owned retail corporation that is managing the Colruyt supermarkets and other subsidiaries such as OKay, Bio-Planet, DATS 24, DreamLand, DreamBaby, and more.
Founded in 1928 by Franz Colruyt, the group today i ...
supermarkets and other subsidiaries such as OKay, Bio-Planet, DATS 24, DreamLand, DreamBaby, and more.
Founded in 1928 by Franz Colruyt, the group today is most significantly known for its eponymous discount supermarket chain, which is one of the major players in especially Belgium. Colruyt Group is headquartered in the city of
Halle and has operations in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
.
Operations
The group's main business is its Colruyt discount
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
stores, with over 220 locations in Belgium.
The brand competes directly with discount retailers such as
Aldi
Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...
and
Lidl
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...
. Other food retail brands operated by the company include the
grocery store
A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...
chain OKay and the
organic
Organic may refer to:
* Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity
* Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ
Chemistry
* Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...
supermarket Bio-Planet. Colruyt is also one of two
franchisees
Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...
of the
SPAR
SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...
brand in Belgium. In France Colruyt operates its eponymous chain and also supplies the Coccinelle chain of supermarkets.
List of subsidiaries
*
Colruyt supermarket
Colruyt is a chain of supermarkets, started at Lembeek near Halle, Belgium. Colruyt carries the surname of the founder of the family business, the Colruyt family still owns the company.
Colruyt is part of Colruyt Group, a Belgian multinational ...
s - Belgium
* Colruyt France - supermarkets
* Colruyt Group Services (IT - work simplification - BPM - Marketing - Technics)
* Bio-Planet - Bio (organic) supermarkets
* Colex - Colruyt Export: export of products to Africa, South America, ...
* Collect&Go - online grocery shopping
* ColliShop - e-shop non-food
* Cru - delicacies markets
* DATS 24 - gas stations
* DreamBaby - children apparel
* DreamLand - toy and gift shops
* Eoly (sustainable energy supplier)
* OKay - grocery stores
* Retail Partners Colruyt Group (franchising)
* Solucious - wholesale
* Symeta (formerly Druco) - printing company
* ZEB - fashion apparel store
Milestones
* 1960: purchase of IBM 360-20 to process the famous punch cards as the first supermarket in Belgium.
* 1960s: start of the lowest prices policy with Discount Verloo.
* 1971: opening of the first unmanned DATS 24-hour filling station in Belgium.
* 1987: first company in Belgium to use ‘full scanning’, a barcode on the product to automate replenishment, stock management and orders.
* 1990s: food safety in the light of the dioxin affair. the company suggested to draw up specifications with requirements for suppliers, which were later also used by other distributors
* 2000: Collect&Go offers Colruyt’s food assortment online.
* 2011: pursuit of animal welfare. No more meat from castrated pigs is sold in the group’s stores since early 2011.
Later, other supermarkets like Delhaize and Lidl followed suit, urged on by the (GAIA), a Belgian organisation for animal welfare.
References
External links
*
{{BEL20 companies
Companies based in Flemish Brabant
Companies listed on Euronext Brussels
Supermarkets of Belgium
Belgian brands
Colruyt family