Cara, a brand of Colruyt, illustrated here by a can of Pils on a mural of the railway station of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium).
Colruyt Group is a Belgianfamily-ownedretail corporation that is managing the Colruyt supermarkets and other subsidiaries such as OKay, Bio-Planet, DATS 24, DreamLand, DreamBaby, and more.
Founded in 1928 by Franz Colruyt, the group today is most significantly known for its eponymous discount supermarket chain, which is one of the major players in especially Belgium. Colruyt Group is headquartered in the city of Halle and has operations in Belgium, France and Luxembourg.
Operations
The group's main business is its Colruyt discount supermarket stores, with over 220 locations in Belgium.[1] The brand competes directly with discount retailers such as Aldi and Lidl.[2] Other food retail brands operated by the company include the grocery store chain OKay and the organic supermarket Bio-Planet. Colruyt is also one of two franchisees of the SPAR brand in Belgium. In France Colruyt operates its eponymous chain and also supplies the Coccinelle chain of supermarkets.
Colruyt Group Services (IT - work simplification - BPM - Marketing - Technics - ...)
Bio-Planet - Bio (organic) supermarkets
Colex - Colruyt Export: export of products to Africa, South America, ...
Collect&Go - online grocery shopping
ColliShop - e-shop non-food
Cru - delicacies markets
DATS 24 - gas stations
DreamBaby - children apparel
DreamLand - toy and gift shops
Eoly (sustainable energy supplier)
OKay - grocery stores
Retail Partners Colruyt Group (franchising)
Solucious - wholesale
Symeta (formerly Druco) - printing company
ZEB - fashion apparel store
Milestones
1960: purchase of IBM 360-20 to process the famous punch cards as the first supermarket in Belgium.
1960s: start of the lowest prices policy with Discount Verloo.
1971: opening of the first unmanned DATS 24-hour filling station in Belgium.[citation needed]
1987: first company in Belgium to use ‘full scanning’, a barcode on the product to automate replenishment, stock management and orders.
1990s: food safety in the light of the dioxin affair. The company suggested to draw up specifications with requirements for suppliers, which were later also used by other distributors.
2011: pursuit of animal welfare. No more meat from castrated pigs is sold in the group’s stores since early 2011.[3] Later, other supermarkets like Delhaize and Lidl followed suit, urged on by the Global Action in the Interest of Animals [nl] (GAIA), a Belgian organisation for animal welfare.
2011: the group introduces Colruyt Group Academy, which customers and employees can attend for all kinds of activities. Today, there are ten Academies.
2014: launch of new store concept Cru.
2016: Colruyt Group becomes ambassador of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
2017: launch of Xtra as a common customer loyalty card and app for Colruyt Group’s stores and webshops.
2017: DATS 24 opens the first green hydrogen refuelling station for the general public in Halle.
2021: launch of the Eco-score.
2021: acquisition of fitness chain Jims.
2022: Belgium’s largest online pharmacy Newpharma becomes an integral part of Colruyt Group.
2023: acquisition of Degrenne Distribution group in France.
2023: energy holding company Virya Energy sells its offshore wind power platform Parkwind to Japanese energy group JERA Green.
2023: agreement with Belgian family business ToyChamp on the sale of 75% of Dreamland’s shares.
2023: sale of fuel specialist DATS 24 to Virya Energy.
2023: Colruyt Group acquires a stake in digital health platform yoboo.
2023: Jef Colruyt retires as CEO and hands over to the new CEO Stefan Goethaert.
2023: agreement to acquire 57 Match and Smatch stores in Belgium.
