Canadian grocer Metro has the number 1 market share in Quebec, and the number 2 share in Ontario.
At the recent CIBC World Markets 17th annual Retail and Consumer Conference, CEO Eric la Flèche discussed the company's growth strategy moving forward in an environment of increasing competition for conventional grocery.
Click Here to Listen to Metro CEO Eric la Flèche Discuss His Company's Strategy
In addition to slow and steady improvements and expansion, Metro has a pilot store in Quebec and one in Ontario, which are both called "premium conventional" format.
In order to convert Quebec the store to its new format, it was doubled in size. La Flèche stressed that this store was not for only super-wealthy patrons, and middle-class customers have responded well.
"When you raise the bar, give a great customer experience, you get rewarded," he said. "We really improved the food offering, section by section, department by department."
When asked about plans to expand the concept beyond the pilot store, possibly in Ontario as well as Quebec, la Flèche emphatically agreed that this is in the works.
"Clearly we want to do that. It's part of our strategy... The preliminary results are very encouraging. So we want to accelerate that roll-out... That's clearly our plan, to have a better, Premium Metro differentiation and great product offering... better pizza, better food throughout the store."
With 567 grocery stores, 258 drug stores, and more than $11 billion in sales, business is good.
It seems la Flèche's strategy is very simple: "try to be the best supermarket, market-by-market," he said. "We continue to invest every year.. we are steady in our investments... every year, we will replace a couple stores or we will enlarge a couple stores."
Will these new "premium conventional" stores continue to increase sales for Metro, while also making it more competitive against rivals like Loblaw and Target?
Metro
