03 October 2024
San Sebastian Campus
Pedro Galdos, Head of Marketing visited the classroom as Guest Speaker in front of 40 Erasmus and local students of Strategic Distribution Decisions course of professor Esteban Salegi.
The group, founded is a merger of VES in Torrelavega and Unialco de Irún, has 270 points of sale, POS, had a revenue of 1.072 million euros in 2023 and employs 6,200 people.
In 2022 PAI Partners acquired the majority of the capital in Uvesco group. As result of the acquisition founder shareholders, some directors and local partners keep their shareholder position in the company. Through organic and inorganic growth, it is present in the Basque Country, Navarra, Cantabria, La Rioja and Madrid.
Its strategy of specializing in medium-sized urban supermarkets has allowed it to meet the current trends in grocery market. Proximity concept, with smaller and more frequent purchases by customers. BM’s differentiation strategy is based in fresh products, purchased from local producers.
Its philosophy of rowing against the tide, Against de Flow, is reflected in its slogan "Superlocal". They spoke to us in the classroom about the concept of experience in the store, based on the very close personal relation of its employees with customers.
BM has successfully integrated Ercoreca, Gigante, Condis and Hiber(2024) stores in Madrid. And it is expanding with new openings mainly in the province of Madrid. In the processes of opening new stores, three factors are valued: The population in an area, Proximity, and the rental cost, all analysed with Geomarketing tools.
They updated us on trends in food distribution such as; Home delivery in your refrigerator, Mobile supermarket, Food waste model, Artificial meet, Self driving cars or the importance that prepared and cooked food acquires in other markets. 86% of sales come from loyalty programme customers, customers registered with loyalty card. It gives a lot of data for Uvesco. Also a lot of Data of what they don’t buy in BM or Super Amara.
For BM, purely online sales represent 1.5% of total sales, even lower than the industry average. 3% in Spain and 6% in the UK. These sales are not profitable for them. But it’s very important for them the option of physical purchase in the store and home delivery. It is the preferred option used by most loyal customers and who make the largest average tickets.
Private brand sales represent 10% of total sales. Until 2023 they were using third party brands, such as IFA.
They have recently launched the Private brand BM, that will be sold in BM and Super Amara supermarkets. Pedro explained to us that in 2000 private brands’ market share in Spain was 15%. In 2024 it’s 45%. The country with highest private brand penetration in Europe is Switzerland, with 52% of the market. Grocery industry is based in a model of low margins and high rotation with Net Profit of 2%-3% on Sales.
The most important for supermarket’s expansion is Location. Customers buy mainly in grocery shops closer than 5 minutes walking from home in city centres. The trend of supermarkets in Spain is moving to formats of 1.000 m2, linked to healthier food trends.
Worldwide the trends for next years are:
1. community
2. Artificial Intelligence
3. Data
4. Purpose-driven brands
5. Technological innovations
6. Fight against food waste
7. Ultra-convenience
Professor Esteban Salegi interviewed Pedro Galdos and Josune Bueno within the panel of short talks with logistics and retail experts that are visiting the University.
