- Netto (store)
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For other meanings of "netto", see Netto (disambiguation). For other unrelated supermarket chains with the same names, see Netto (Les Mousquetaires) and Netto Marken-Discount.
Netto 
Type Private Industry Retail Genre Supermarket Founded Copenhagen, Denmark Headquarters Køge, Denmark Area served Europe Revenue 23 Billion DKK[1] Employees 7000[1] Parent Dansk Supermarked Group Website http://www.netto.dk Netto is a Danish discount supermarket operating in several European countries. Netto is owned by Dansk Supermarked Group, which in turn is partly owned by A.P. Møller-Mærsk Group.[2]
Netto also operates an express version of the store, known as Døgn Netto. Døgn stores offer the same service as regular Netto stores, with longer opening hours and higher prices.
2009 saw Netto celebrate its 28th birthday with special offers in store in the weeks number 16, 17 and 18 every year.[3]
Contents
Geographic coverage
At the end of May 2009, Netto had stores in the following countries:[4]
Country Since Stores 
Denmark1981 406 
Germany1990 293 
United Kingdom1990 193 
Poland1995 190 
Sweden2002 127 On 27 May 2010 it was announced that Netto would sell all UK stores to Asda for £778M.[5]
Denmark
A Netto store at Lygten, in Copenhagen
The first Netto store opened in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1981. At first the items sat in boxes and on pallets, but the chain quickly expanded, and the service level increased as well. Today there are 406 stores (February 2010).
A Døgn Netto in CopenhagenThe very first Netto opened in 1979, it was "red" instead of "yellow", and was called NETTOmarked.
Germany
German NettoIn September 1990, Netto started an internationalisation process, and Germany was the second country to gain Netto stores. The first store was opened in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern not long after the Fall of the Wall. Netto has since expanded in the states of Brandenburg, Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein, and there are a total of 293 stores end of May 2009.
In Germany, a second chain of stores, called Netto Marken-Discount and owned by EDEKA has also been in operation since 1984. It currently has more than 3,500 sales outlets across all German states after taking over 2,300 Plus Discount Supermarkets in early 2009 and rebranding them to Netto Marken-Discount. Due to the takeover it became one of the three largest discount supermarket chains in Germany.[6] The two chains are unrelated to each other.
United Kingdom
British NettoNetto began operating in England in Leeds on 13 December 1990, with the company's UK headquarters being based in the ex-mining village of South Elmsall, West Yorkshire. Netto primarily expanded in central England, before moving south into London. Presently, there are 194 stores in the UK, all in England and Wales.
Plans for a £200M investment in 70 stores in South Wales were cancelled due to logistical issues, resulting in the sell-off of stores in Barry and Caerphilly. There are four stores in North Wales, including stores at Holyhead, Llandudno Junction, Flint and Caernarfon.
Many prices are very similar to wholesale prices, in a style and concept closest to the now defunct Kwik Save brand. To enforce fairness to all shoppers, many offers are limited to 6 per person. Netto sells brand-name products, such as Pepsi and Walkers Crisps; commonly these are parallel imports.
In May 2010, Netto UK was bought by Asda for £778m. The decision by Asda was to increase its smaller store portfolio. 147 of the former UK Netto stores will be re-branded under the Asda name by the summer of 2011. The remaining 47 stores have been sold off to other companies such as Morrisons and new convenience store UGO and other retailers due to competition laws.[7][8]
On 30 September 2011, Netto UK ceased trading. Many of the UK Netto Stores will reopen as Asda Stores.
Poland
Polish NettoThe first Netto store in Poland opened in Szczecin in 1995. The expansion of the branch is concentrated in the west part of the country from Szczecin to Gdańsk (for example in Police and Stargard Szczeciński), and through the country to Bydgoszcz, Poznań, and Zielona Góra, and the country has 212 stores today.
Sweden
Swedish NettoThe Swedish part of Netto was founded in 2002 as a joint venture between Dansk Supermarked and ICA called Netto Marknad AB. The co-operation was granted by the European Commission in 2001. The headquarters were established in Halmstad in March and the first store was opened in Trelleborg on May 8. A week later two stores where opened in Lund. In the beginning, Netto kept their stores in the Götaland region.
In August 2004 the first stores in Stockholm were opened. The head office moved to Falkenberg in October 2003.
The Swedish Netto branch is expanding rapidly. As of 2003 there were 28 stores. One year later there were 58 stores and as of December 2007 the store count is 84 and of May 2009 there are 107 stores.
At the end of 2006 ICA announced it was pulling out of the joint venture, reducing its stake from 50% to 5%. 21 stores in the Stockholm and Västerås regions would transfer to ICA ownership with most being rebranded to ICA's own formats during 2007. The reasons for the change were problems in supplying the stores based on Netto's more southern base as well as ICA's desire to focus investment on its own formats.
Other countries
The Netto name is also used in other countries such as Spain and France, but these stores are independent from the Scandinavian Netto. The Spanish Netto is a chain of convenience stores owned by DinoSol and the French Netto is a discount chain owned by Les Mousquetaires.
See also
- List of supermarket chains
- Aldi
- Lidl
- List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom
- Asda
References
- ^ a b http://www.dsg.dk/internet/dsg/menu/main.nsf
- ^ Nettos hjemmeside
- ^ http://www.netto-offers.co.uk/birthday/
- ^ Nettos hjemmeside
- ^ "Asda to take over Netto stores in UK". BBC News. 2010-05-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10171193.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
- ^ http://www.netto-online.de/unternehmen/wir_ueber_uns.php
- ^ "Asda buys Netto's British stores". The Daily Telegraph (London). 2010-05-27. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/7770874/Asda-buys-Nettos-British-stores.html.
- ^ http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/articles/10000-oft-allows-asda-to-open-147-exnetto-stores
Further reading
- Information regarding the locations of the Danish owned Netto
- Information regarding ICA's withdrawal from Netto in Sweden
External links
Supermarkets in the United KingdomBig five 
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CategorySupermarket chains in Denmark Categories:- Supermarkets of Denmark
- Supermarkets of Germany
- Supermarkets of Poland
- Supermarkets of Sweden
- Supermarkets of the United Kingdom
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