[Analysis] Discreet reformer makes way for commercial driver at Delhaize

After eight years, CEO Xavier Piesvaux is bidding farewell to a reborn Delhaize. The discreet manager rarely took center stage, but behind the scenes he carried out the most radical reform in the retailer’s history.

Keeping up with life

When Frenchman Piesvaux was appointed in September 2017 to succeed Denis Knoops at the helm of Delhaize, he was given the clear task of turning Belgium’s number two supermarket chain back into a growing and, above all, more profitable business, as its margins were lagging behind those of other chains within the Ahold Delhaize group. The retailer, which had been struggling with disappointing figures and declining market share for years, had to rediscover itself – more specifically, it had to find a balance between its historical image of quality and renewed commercial strength in a market that was becoming increasingly price and promotion-driven.