Focusing on urban growth

Our goal is to quickly boost our presence in the cities. After all, urbanised areas continue to attract increasing numbers of people, including lots of young people and families. These consumers are less brand loyal, so we want to make sure we are visibly present in their world.

Over the next ten years, we will be focusing on urban development, with priority given to Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. We are planning to open dozens of new Okay Compact stores, alongside extra Colruyt stores and Collect&Go collection points, in these locations. The ultimate goal is to increase our market share in the major cities from around 20% to our national average of over 30%. 

We tailor our store formats to the realities of the city, with its diverse customer needs, competitive landscape and availability of potential locations. In Brussels, for example, we can only opt for a smaller 800 m² Colruyt store instead of the usual 1,500 m². We can also integrate our stores into residential complexes, such as Colruyt Schaerbeek, which has three residential floors.

Now that cars are increasingly less welcome in major cities, there is a growing need for grocery stores located closer to customers, which in turn leads to more freight transport in city centres. As a retailer, we therefore focus on more efficient and safer store inventory delivery.

* Our 800 drivers and deliverers are committed to safe and courteous traffic. We offer custom training courses for city driving.
* We invest in awareness raising, with annual blind spot sessions for 10,000 school-age children.
* We limit the number of deliveries and consult local authorities regarding delivery times.
* And we invest in a modernised fleet of vehicles. Our food service company Solucious uses electric refrigerated trucks for quiet and environmentally friendly deliveries in Brussels. In the major cities, deliveries are also often made by cargo bike.
* We test deliveries to city stores with smaller trucks departing from a hub in the urban outskirts. 

Okay Direct is our automatic self-service store for daily groceries outside of regular opening hours. This highly successful concept was launched at the end of 2021 and is continuously fine-tuned.

• Always open, primarily attracts young student shoppers and local residents
• Access, shop and pay via the Xtra app
• Around 600 references in 150 m²
• Primarily fresh products, ‘emergency’ items and on-the-go

In urban areas, customers can have their Collect&Go orders delivered directly to their home. 

• Home delivery via own delivery drivers. Launched in mid-2022 in Brussels and Antwerp, with orders prepared in the Londerzeel distribution centre.
• Drivers as official share-economy platform. Individuals pick up online orders at a collection point and deliver them to the customer’s home for a small fee. Service with over 2,000 active delivery drivers.