On August 7, 2008, Metro announces its decision to consolidate its five conventional supermarket banners under the Metro name, creating the largest supermarket chain in Ontario, with 159 stores. With the launch of the Metro brand in Ontario, the Company takes the opportunity to update its logo and launches a more dynamic, bright red logo.
The highlight of 2009 is the conversion of the Company’s five
Ontario supermarket banners to Metro. The Company completes this
massive undertaking in less than 15 months.
Metro also completes the repositioning of the Food Basics discount
stores begun the previous year, and the banner sees significant
growth in 2009.
Metro acquires 15 GP food stores in September 2009, consolidating
its position in Eastern Quebec. These stores were owned by a
family-controlled business founded
50 years prior, and with which Metro has had a 40-year long
association.
Metro launches the Green Apple School Program to strengthen its
commitment to helping schools take concrete action for the
environment and community wellness. Metro invests $1 million each
in Ontario and Quebec to support this program.
Following a lengthy pilot project, Metro announces in November 2009
the creation of an exclusive joint venture with dunnhumby, a
British consulting and marketing firm. The joint venture’s mission
is to develop and implement strategies to better meet customer
needs and build strong loyalty. This partnership aims to develop
targeted marketing strategies and improve the in-store customer
experience, two key success factors in our industry.
Our customer-focused strategy is at the foundation of our
business plan. Implementing the best loyalty programs is an
integral part of our customer-first commitment. In our Ontario
Metro supermarkets we already offered the popular Air Miles®
loyalty card, and in 2010 we launched metro&moi, a proprietary
loyalty card designed specifically for our Québec Metro
supermarkets. With metro&moi our customers collect ‘m’ points
for every dollar spent and have the opportunity to earn up to 10
times more ‘m’ points with special bonus offers. Their loyalty is
rewarded with cash vouchers redeemable in our Metro supermarkets as
well as coupon offers on the products they buy. The program has
been met with great enthusiasm by our customers, and has surpassed
our targets in terms of enrolment, percentage of sales that our
customers have made on the card, and average basket size.
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During fiscal 2010, we developed a comprehensive Corporate
Responsibility roadmap, which articulates our commitment to the
sustainability of our activities. The pillars of this roadmap are
aligned to our business strategy: Delighted Customers, Respect for
the Environment, Strengthened Communities and Empowered Employees.
As part of this commitment, in September we put in place a
sustainable fisheries policy and ceased selling seven threatened
species.
In October, 2011, Metro announced that it has entered into a
partnership agreement with Marché Adonis, a well established ethnic
food retailer in the Montreal region specializing in fresh and
Mediterranean products and prepared meals. Under this partnership,
Metro now holds a 55% interest in Marché Adonis and in its
distributor Phoenicia Products. The partnership will help us grow
and improve the ethnic food offering in all our stores, and will
also allow us to increase our market share in the fast growing
ethnic foods category.
