2010 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT (3.4 Mo) - Groupe Casino

PRESENTATION OF THE CASINO GROUPBusiness and strategy1The Group also continued to promote synergies between Cdiscountand its banners. The pick-up service introduced in 2009 enablingCdiscount customers to collect large items (over 30 kg) from Géanthypermarkets was extended in 2010 to Petit Casino stores for smallitems under 30 kg. By the end of the year, this service was alreadyavailable in the 1,800 integrated Petit Casino stores and will beextended to all superettes in the first half of 2011.Real estateMercialys, a 51.1% subsidiary of Casino, is an SIIC (French style REIT)listed on the stock market since 2005. It is one of France's leadingreal estate investment companies and a major player in shoppingcentres. At end 2010, it had a portfolio of 130 properties including92 shopping centres. It owns the Group’s shopping centres and isresponsible for enhancing their value through the Alcudia/Esprit Voisinprogramme (for further details, please see section 1.4 “Real estateand investments”).Other businessesThe Group has developed a number of other retail-relatedbusinesses:Casino RestaurationCasino Restauration was historically positioned in the fast foodsegment through its chain of Casino cafeterias.In the past few years, it has been repositioning through innovativeconcepts such as theme restaurants (Villa Plancha), takeout foodservice(Cœur de Blé) and corporate foodservice (R2C: Restauration CollectiveCasino).Banque CasinoCreated in 2001 in partnership with Cofinoga, Banque Casino providesconsumer finance in Géant Casino hypermarkets, Casino supermarketsand the Cdiscount site. It has almost one million customers.In July 2010, it entered into a long-term partnership with GroupeCrédit Mutuel-CIC, whose interest in Banque Casino will increase to50%, with Casino owning the remaining 50%.During the year, Banque Casino launched “Casino Banque et Services”,a new range of financial and insurance products, such as motor,health and pet insurance. It has been available since June 2010 inall Géant hypermarkets, as well as some Casino supermarkets andPetit Casino stores.Sustained development in private-label goodsThe Casino Group was a pioneer in private label products, launchingits own brand as early as 1901.In 1931, it released its first advertising for private label products withthe slogan “Casino, above all a great brand”. In 1959, the Group beganto put sell-by dates on its products, well before the regulations wereintroduced, and in 1984, offered a double money-back guaranteeon its products.Since 2005, the Group has stepped up the development of its ownlabel.In 2005, the private-label mix was completely overhauled, includingnew-look packaging, specific promotional campaigns (e.g. Gratos)and the development of 340 core items.In 2006, the private-label platform was consolidated with theintroduction of a new design across the entire range, an increasedpresence in the more buoyant markets and segments such as freshproduce and wines, and the launch of 451 new products in morespecific segments.2007 was a year of differentiation, with the adoption of higherquality communications, strong positioning in theme ranges (e.g.nutrition), and the launch of 500 new products including cosmeticsand confectionery.Thanks to this sustained development policy, the Casino brand enjoyeddouble-digit sales growth from 2005 to 2008.The brand’s strength lies in its competitive pricing, broad productrange and ability to regularly renew its product lines. For example,more than 400 new products were introduced in 2010.Casino brand products were sold in more than 7,200 stores in 2010,making it the leading private label in FMCG and refrigerated productsin terms of sales penetration. It now accounts for close to 50% oftotal volumes (1) .In 2010, the Casino product portfolio comprised more than13,000 items – including 5,400 food items – covering broad productranges, thereby providing a segmented offering tailored to the latestconsumer trends and designed to meet each consumer’s specificneeds. The ranges include Casino Délice for gourmet food lovers,Casino Ecolabel for shoppers sensitive to sustainable developmentissues, Casino Bio for consumers seeking organic products and CasinoFamili for family shoppers, which also covers non-food items.In late 2010, Casino launched “Casino Bien Pour Vous”, a new wellbeingrange comprising both food and non-food items divided intofour main categories – fitness, protection, specific nutrition and sport.In early 2011, Casino Bien Pour Vous already boasted some onehundred items. The Group has also begun to revamp the packagingof its value-line label with a new range of daily basics called “Tous lesjours”. Comprising over 1,500 items, the range will cover all segments(food, hygiene, household goods and equipment, and apparel).Both these new ranges have been available in all Casino stores(hypermarkets, supermarkets and superettes) since early 2011.In non-food, the product offering has more than doubled since 2006and now comprises 7,600 items. The ranges include Ysiance forhealth and beauty, Casino Désirs for household and leisure goodsand Tout Simplement for clothing.The Group’s private label policy also stands out for its commitmentto sustainable development. Casino was the first retailer to sign thegovernment-sponsored voluntary code of commitment to nutritionalprogress in 2008. It was also the first French retailer to measurethe environmental impacts of its products, introducing the CarbonIndex in 2008, an environmental label that shows the amount ofgreenhouse gases generated by a product during the five key stagesof its lifecycle. By the end of 2010, 650 products already carried theCarbon Index label. In 2010, Casino also pledged to eliminate palmoil from its private label goods, representing another example of itsinitiatives in nutritional progress and its ability to meet society’s newconcerns. By the end of 2010, Casino had reformulated 200 of the600 or so products that contained palm oil, with this initiative sharedby all the Group’s banners in France. Lastly, on 1 May 2010, Casinolaunched a range of gluten-free private-label products in the Group’shypermarkets and supermarkets.Individualised marketingCustomer loyalty is an important factor in both revenue growth andmargin improvement. Thanks to the loyalty programme offered in itshypermarkets and supermarkets and its participation in the S’milesnetwork, the Group has a solid customer franchise with almost4 million card holders.(1) Private and value line FMCG and refrigerated products across all formats (Géant, Casino Supermarkets and convenience stores).Registration Document 2010 | Casino Group9