Sun, 22 November 2009
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An AH monopoly?
Around the country you can find Dirk van der Broek, Super de Boer and many other supermarket chains. Yet, it seems like Albert Heijn is on every corner in every town — does it have a monopoly? 
According to the Centraal Bureau voor Levensmiddelen (CBL), the union for all supermarkets in NL, over 90 percent of the market is controlled by the top four supermarket groups.
Ahold for Albert Heijn (AH) has 41 percent of the market, Laurus for Edah, Konmar, Super de Boer has 26 percent, Trade Service Netherlands (TSN) for A&P, C1000 and other independents has 15 percent and Superunie for SPAR and others has less than 10 percent.
Each of these supermarket chains is attached to, owned by, or part of a purchasing/import/distribution organisation.
How well these aspects work together determines whether consumers get the products that they need and want.
Why does stock run out so frequently?
A perennial problem at all Dutch supermarkets, no matter what size, is the out-of-stock issue.
Hans Smith, an independent owner of a Super de Boer in s’Hertogenbosch offers some insight: From the wholesale/delivery point of view, the production of say tuna fish may not have been delivered to the buying organisation on time, or the order to buy was given too late and conflicts with the producers delivery schedule. It's even possible that when the order came in it was put in the wrong place in the storage area.
He adds that if you’ve seen a brand for a number of weeks on the shelves and it suddenly disappears it can be because either the trading price was no longer favourable to the purchasing organisation or the store itself found a cheaper way to private label.
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