EG: Another METRO in Egypt
Here we go, another METRO supermarket in Egypt and has nothing to do with the German Metro Cash & Carry.
Metro Markets in Egypt are part of the Mansour Group, who also owns the McDonald’s chain of fast food stores.
Category: Retail Distribution
CY: Another METRO in Cyprus
Here we go, another METRO supermarket in Nicosia-Cyprus that has nothing to do with the German METRO Group which operates METRO Cash & Carry, the global market leader in self-service wholesale and at the same time also the most international retail brand with the highest sales volume at the METRO Group.
Metro Cash & Carry is present in 28 countries with 554 stores and a turnover of 28.1 bn € (Status 31 Dec 2005).
Also another Metro can be found in Lebanon called MetroMarket with 2 supermarkets in Jounieh & Beirut.
CY: Orphanides Supermarkets
Orphanides, “the island’s largest supermarket”, as their business slogan says, is carrying it annual back to school promotion in its 10 stores. Now these guys have to face the french giant retailer, Carrefour who is present now on the island, after acquiring Chris Cash & Carry, the island’s No.2 food retailer. CCC operates 3 Hypermarkets and 4 Supermarkets.
Orphanides has an aggressive approach for Private Label products in its stores, where their own brand, also called Orphanides, can be found in almost all sections and categories.
1-week old Brico Store
| Another trend of stores in Romania are the Do-It-Yourself stores. | |
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I have visited the 1-week old Brico Store situated just next the Feeria complex sharing the same parking. Also Praktiker, the German chain is present in Romania. These types of stores are offering the romanian consumers with all types of DIY, bricolage, hardware and home improvement products. I believe that such stores will be jeopardizing the targets and margins of the non-food sections of the major retailers. |
The 6th Carrefour Hyper in Romania
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During my visit to Romania, I’ve been to the 6th Carrefour hypermarket that opened last month in Bucharest. This store of around 20,000 sqm and 57 check-outs is situated in the Feeria shopping complex in the Baneasa area. |
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| Romania is one of the developped east european markets, with retailers fighting for market shares from all over Europe, as well local players. Retailers in Romania: Carrefour, Metro C&C, Selgros, Cora, Billa, Kaufland, Mega Image, La Fourmi, XXL, Plus, UniversAll, G Market, Artima, Rewe. |
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Géant, a hard name!
| During my presence in Tunisia, I’ve visited the recently opened Géant hypermarket. On my way and while approaching the TunisCity complex where the store is located, I saw their outside sign and I really wondered if Géant did the right choice to open its stores under this brand name.To people who did not have any french education background, it is really hard to pronounce the word “Géant”, while also its translation into arabic is not really accurate phoenetically. Try to say in english “Jeeyan” or “Jyan”and this is what you get for the arabic word. | ||
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| In countries like Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria for sure the name has no problem because people mainly living in these countries had a french education, while in United Arab Emirates and Kindgom of Saudi Arabia, the problem is obvious. Géant already operates in these 6 mentioned countries and for sure the expansion plan is on the way in this part of the world and I mean North Africa, Gulf and Levant. | ||
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Géant translated into english is Giant.Another obstacle raised in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the presence of the Saudi chain of supermarkets Giant Stores owned by Al Muhaideb family. Known to be the biggest market in the Middle East, Saudi Arabian markets also includes other local chains such as Al Othaim & Panda, also international chains such as Carrefour & Géant. A rumor in town also says that the world #1 retailer, the american giant Wal-Mart have an office in KSA and is monitoring the market.
All Saudi nationals and mainly the largest ethnic groups come from an english education background, so the french name will be hard for them to pronounce and once they know its translation into english, they will try to find a way to differentiate it from the Saudi chain, maybe by adding another word to the initial name such as the “French Giant” |
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Is it acceptable that a huge retailer like Groupe Casino, do not pay attention that a one word translation might affect the image of the global brand and cause all this confusion on the short and long term?Maybe they still have the time to catch the mistake, if they dont, we won’t be far of seeing a new retail name raising from a mistake. |
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Tunisian Supermarkets Names
When you visit Tunisia, to discover the retail distribution market and the players available there, whatever your business category is, you can not come back without thinking about the names of the retailers you have seen.
Magro, Promogro, Bonprix & Monoprix.
Magro: also known in Tunisia as “Les Magasins Générales†owned by the state, a rumor in town says they will be privatized soon and the new owner might be the french retailer Auchan.
Promogro: a local chain, operating under Cash & Carry concept.
Bonprix: another Tunisian chain of 44 stores, but was recently bought by the French giant Carrefour which will redesign these stores under the brand Champion. Champion is already present in Tunisia with 2 stores.
Monoprix: is the known french chain of supermarkets, which is part of Groupe Casino, also the owners of the hypermarket chain Géant.
Why all these retailers have almost look-alike names. Definetely the Tunisian consumer knows to differentiate between all of them and might be loyal to one name or another, but as we all know differentiation is important and it makes a distinction
Smart : Hard Discounter in Cyprus
During a recent business trip to Cyprus, I have came across a hard discounter called “Smart” in the town of Larnaca.
Unfortunately it was by night and i was only able to catch their outside sign with my mobile phone, “the naming is smart”, also their logo design is a nice one (not very well seen in this picture), the colors are vivid and appealing. I went in for a quick look as I was on my way to catch my flight, the surface is a hard discounter but it is clean and neat. I am neither sure of the origin of this retailer nor how many outlets they have opened in Cyprus so far, but i guess this is their first store and it is their raw model.
But will this hard discount retailer face a problem with the Daimler Chrysler Group? Both of them are using the same word for different purposes, one is selling rice, water, shampoo and detergent, the other is selling small and tiny cars. And we all know about those huge multinationals who are very keen about their trademarks.
Will Daimler Chrysler be soft or “HARD” on this issue?
During my next trip to Cyprus, I will make sure to check if these guys are still in the game!