Mega Image launches frozen food store

Romania is the first country where the Belgian Delhaize group has launched a new retail brand, AB Cool Food, which sells exclusively frozen foods.

By Simona Bazavan

The first such outlet was officially opened in Bucharest last week. Located on Ion Mihalache Boulevard, it will be the only one to open this year, but expansion will begin next year, said Catalina Aldea, commercial director of Mega Image. However, company representatives declined to give concrete expansion targets.

The AB Cool Food store sells some 600 products on a sales area of 180 sqm. The product portfolio ranges from frozen fruit, vegetables and meat products to ready-meals, pastries, ice cream and cakes. The products are mostly Delhaize private labels or other imported brands, sourced from countries such as Belgium, Greece, Serbia and France. Very few Romanian FMCG companies have ventured into producing frozen foods, added the commercial director. Nevertheless, Mega Image has partnerships with a few local suppliers, said Aldea, without disclosing who they are.

The launch of this new store should improve trust in frozen foods among Romanian consumers, she added. Many local shoppers are skeptical of such products, fearing lack of freshness and quality. At present, the consumption of frozen foods is mostly seasonal in Romania.

Mega Image has recently reached a network of 250 stores in Romania, out of which 100 are Shop&Go proximity stores (with a smaller sale surface than regular supermarkets) and the rest are Mega Image supermarkets. Asked whether the statement made by Xavier Piesvaux last year according to which the retailer could reach a network of 300 shops in 2013 still stands, Aldea answered yes, but did not give further details on expansion plans.

After opening 88 new branches in 2012, Mega Image increased its profit 3.5 times to RON 46.7 million (EUR 10.5 million) on the previous year, while its turnover rose by 44 percent to RON 1.75 billion (EUR 394 million), according to public data. Without giving any numbers, Aldea said Mega Image had grown its business so far this year on the previous one, driven by expansion but also in terms of like-for-like sales. In 2013, the retailer has continued its aggressive expansion strategy, focusing mostly on the smaller Shop&Go format. While Mega Image owns all the stores in its network, Shop&Go outlets are managed by outside managers based on an “operational partnership”, said Aldea. Some 100 such managers have so far been selected for future openings, she added. Overall, Mega Image opened close to 90 new outlets this year– both Shop&Go and Mega Image.