For a retail company, purchasing and logistics are crucial functions
Find here Enabling Procurement’s interview of Dieter Struye for VIB Magazine, April 2019
“In February 2018, Dieter Struye, previously General Manager at Brico and 2017’s Young Top Manager of the Year, took on the role of general director of non-food at the Colruyt Group. Now, a good year later, he talks about his experiences in the past year, how purchasing and logistics make the difference for him, and how Colruyt deals with values such as partnership and respect for the environment in a changed retail landscape.
The role of non-food in the Colruyt Group
Since his arrival and after getting to know the various aspects of the business, Dieter has focused on clarifying the role of non-food formats within the group. He sees similarities with the food part of the business, and also differences, especially with regards to the way the customer is approached, and is fully engaged in the implementation of that principle.
“My starting point was: “What is the role of non-food within the Colruyt Group system?” Or: “In what way is non-food different from food and how do we best tackle that specificity?” I define the specific role of non-food for Colruyt Group as offering assortments in which purchases are not repetitive. They do not automatically form part of the repetitive shopping trip that consumers undertake to meet their daily needs.
“In the non-repetitive categories, the consumer starts from the product that he or she wants to purchase.
That is why you must be present online, you must ensure your brand awareness in the category, you must be known as a specialist shop where the consumer can get the right assortment for a particular product. For example, the customer knows that he will find a full range at Dreambaby and there is a wide selection of products available. That is completely different from the image we have for our ‘food’ branch. There, the choice is primarily one for Colruyt as a Retail Concept and consumers will purchase what they find there to meet their needs.
“My vision is that the formats mainly continue to determine their own strategy – because that generates a lot of specific value. At the same time, they must work together in a pragmatic way. I see it as my role to turn that concept into reality.”
