Eroski has climbed fourteen places to reach 76th position among the top 250 firms in the world in the retail sector, according to the 2010 edition of the “Global Powers of Retailing” report, the unofficial world ranking for retailing.
The ranking has been drawn up by Deloitte and the Stores magazine and shows the significant progress made by by Eroski, due to its continuous rate of growth over the last few years.
The Eroski Group has climbed 14 places compared to 2009, when it was in 90th position. This growth was a result of the expansion of its chain of stores, as well as of the takeover of Caprabo. In the supermarket segment, Eroski is in 25th place in the world ranking.
This and other information was presented yesterday Sunday in New York, at the sector’s annual convention in the United States, which was attended by 17,500 professionals from all over the world.
The Deloitte report, which analyses the performance of and the prospects for the retail sector worldwide, shows a fall in profit margin, from 3.7% to 2.4%, due to the aggressive promotions necessary to encourage sales. This result is accounted for by the economic crisis which has made itself felt with a slowdown in growth.
The report also indicates that the behaviour of consumers is changing in this global economic recession, as they are now demanding more value, opting more for own-brand products and keeping down consumer demand, especially in countries where this been very high, amongst which the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain are expressly mentioned.
The Eroski chain now totals close to 2,300 stores and is made up of Eroski hypermarkets, Eroski/center, Caprabo and Eroski/city supermarkets, Eroski/viajes travel agency branches, petrol stations, Forum Sport stores, IF perfume stores, Abac leisure and culture outlets and 25 goods depots. In addition, there are also 482 self-service stores operated on a franchise basis. In France, Eroski operates 39 stores (hypermarkets, supermarkets and petrol stations) and 4 IF perfume stores in Andorra.
For 40 years now, 10% of Eroski’s profits have been earmarked for initiatives of a social nature. A large part of these profits are channelled through the Eroski Foundation to be reinvested in society mainly to meet the needs of the community in three different areas: consumer information and education, protecting the environment and solidarity.
http://www.eroski.com