Work in progress

Rema 1000 aims to accelerate integration of Aldi stores

The discounter by summer wants to reach a store network of 400 in Denmark

The Norwegian discount retailer Rema 1000 wants to speed up its store opening pace in Denmark and close the gap to discount market leader Netto. Rema’s Danish CEO Henrik Burkal announced on social media that the discounter, who currently operates more than 360 stores in the country, wants to reach a store count of 400 by summer. Instrumental for this milestone is the conversion of 114 Aldi Nord stores that the retailer had acquired in December 2022. Only in August last year the Danish competition agency greenlighted the deal and Rema 1000 could go forward with the integration.

Rema 1000 is the fastest growing discounter in the country. Already in 2021 it advanced to the number two position among Danish discounters, when it overtook Coop’s low-cost format Fakta (now rebranded to Coop365) by reaching a store network of more than 350 units.

Only market leader Salling Group, who acquired 21 of Aldi’s 188 discount shops, has a bigger presence with close to 550 Netto discount stores. With a country-wide presence Netto has been less focused on organic expansion but has been continuously upgrading its store concept to its new ‚Netto 3.0‘ concept introduced in 2019. Netto 3.0 offers an upmarket store design, expanded fresh ranges and more choice in health-oriented products as well as a ‚to go‘ zone with ready-made meals. By 2025 the whole store estate is to be remodeled to the latest sales model.

Also German discounter Lidl has pushed its presence in the country of six million inhabitants thanks to the divestiture of Aldi. Thanks to the Aldi-integration Lidl currently operates 162 stores in Denmark, almost ten more than Lidl Denmark CEO Jens Stratmann had aimed at in fall last year. Only at the beginning of the month Lidl opened its fist tobacco-free shop in Denmark.

Aldi Nord’s market exit does not necessarily mean a lessening of competitive pressure in the discount channel for Netto, Coop365 or Lidl. According to own calculations based on balance sheet data, an Aldi Nord store in Denmark generated 2.8 million euro in 2022. In contrast to this, a Rema 1000 store achieved an annual revenue of 7.7. million euro per store. 

Aldi Nord had been writing red figures for several years in the country. The annual report for 2022 shows a net loss for the company of almost 80 million euro. If considering provisions for the market exit, the loss still came up to more than 60 million euro – more than 300,000 euro per year per store.