08 February 2012

French independent grocery retailer Leclerc has announced that its consolidated sales for 2011 grew 8.4% to reach EUR40.6 billion (USD56.4 billion). In France, sales excluding fuel rose 5.5% to EUR30.21 billion (USD41.74 billion) and EUR37.8 billion (USD52.6 billion) with fuel. Although Drive stores, of which there are 143 currently, accounted for one-third of the retailer's sales growth, all formats contributed to the sales increase, most notably its hypermarkets with a sales area of 4,000-6,500 square metres which recorded a sales increase of 7.1%. This result means Leclerc plans to overtake Carrefour to be the no.1 grocery retailer in France by 2015.

To achieve this goal, the company will focus on a multi-channel strategy based on the Drive format, with which it hopes to operate 400 units by 2015, and the launch of a non-food e-commerce site. Leclerc is looking to improve the convergence between the web and its specialist concepts, such as travel shops, parapharmacies and media stores, which contributed 8.4% to sales growth in 2011. The retailer plans to introduce an e-commerce portal for travel this April, a site for cultural products in the autumn and one for multimedia and electronics in 2013. Leclerc said: "The idea is to launch sites dedicated to a market which are autonomous but all gathered under a common portal like Tesco." In 2012, the chain will open a further 116 specialist concepts.

In Spain, the retailer is targeting sales of EUR500 million (USD659 million) by 2014 after investing EUR120 million (USD167 million) in the acquisition of seven hypermarkets from Eroski in Madrid. Leclerc currently runs 18 hypermarkets in the Spanish capital.

Fonte: Planet Retail