Colruyt adapts price communication

Belgian supermarket chain Colruyt simplifies its price communication: on shelf labels, customers no longer see when the price has been lowered in reaction to competitors. Promotions will be in red from now on.

Black on white

“We always promise the lowest prices”, is Colruyt’s reasoning, so the supermarket chain no longer needs to say explicitly when it adjusts its prices to those of competitors. In the past, this was always indicated on the shelf labels, but this will no longer be the case from now on. It is easier for shoppers, says the retailer.

From now on, all prices – including reactions to prices and promotions from competitors – will simply be shown in black on the price label. Only own promotions, “on top of the lowest prices”, will be in red. “We make it very simple for our customers: the lowest prices every day, in black and white. And we will put our promotions in red so that you don’t miss them,” says general manager Chris Van Wettere.

Price follower strategy

It is the first time in almost 50 years that the system changes. “We have noticed in recent months that our customers are paying increasing attention to price. The current context has an impact on our customers’ wallets and we at Colruyt want to pay the necessary attention to that”, Van Wettere adds.

Colruyt takes the opportunity to underline that the prices at the supermarket chain are not determined by the purchase price, but by the prices of the other supermarkets in the neighbourhood. “Colruyt is a price follower and not a price setter. Our team of 120 employees takes care of that with 62,000 price surveys a day.”