Ahold USA, Delhaize America announce plans to further strengthen brands

Six months after their European parent companies merged to form Ahold Delhaize, Ahold USA and Delhaize America announced plans to further strengthen their brands to ensure they remain customer-focused, community-centered and positioned to win in their markets.

Part of this strategy is the consolidation of the Stop & Shop New York Metro and Stop & Shop New England divisions into one brand organization. Having a single brand organizational structure dedicated to Stop & Shop will strengthen the brand and better leverage it to meet the needs of customers in the different markets that Stop & Shop serves, Ahold Delhaize said in a press release. The

Delhaize America and Ahold USA brands will maintain their respective office locations as follows: Stop & Shop, Quincy, Mass.; Food Lion, Salisbury, N.C.; Giant/Martin’s, Carlisle, Pa.; Hannaford, Scarborough, Maine; Giant Food, Landover, Md.; and Peapod, Skokie, Ill.

Also, the following Ahold USA and Delhaize America brand executives will continue in their roles: Mark McGowan, president, Stop & Shop; Tom Lenkevich, president, Giant/Martin’s; Gordon Reid, president, Giant Food; Jennifer Carr-Smith, president, Peapod; Meg Ham, president, Food Lion; and Mike Vail, president, Hannaford.

Also as part of the brand-strengthening strategy, Ahold USA and Delhaize America recently revealed the creation of Retail Business Services LLC, headed by President Roger Wheeler. The company will leverage its scale to drive synergies and best practices, as well as offer expertise, insights and analytics to the divisions’ brands to support their respective strategies.

With Retail Business Services, the Stop & Shop, Giant Foods, Giant/Martin’s, Peapod, Food Lion and Hannaford banners can fully focus on building on their leading positions in their respective markets and delivering more for their customers, according to Ahold Delhaize. Each banner will have separate commercial strategies tailored to local markets with such dedicated resources as category merchandising, assortment, pricing, promotions, marketing and format teams. The brand-centric structure is expected to be complete by early next year.

“Positioning the Ahold USA brands to be even closer to their customers will not only help them deepen their connection in their local communities and win in their markets, it will ensure that associates have exciting and rewarding opportunities to make meaningful contributions to each brand’s success,” said Kevin Holt, chief operating officer of Quincy, Mass.-based Ahold USA.

“The brand-centric structure will enable our Food Lion and Hannaford associates to build even stronger relationships with existing customers and communities in the markets they serve and win new customers to grow their businesses,” added Frans Muller, acting chief operating office of Salisbury, N.C.-based Delhaize America.