Salling Group

Founded in 1906 by Ferdinand Salling, Salling Group is a retail group operating a number of retail and departmental chains offering clothing, groceries, food services, etc.

Based in Denmark, the business has a market share of 34.9% in the physical grocery trade category and 33% in the online grocery trade. Salling Group has expanded in the UK, Germany and Poland. 

In 2020, Salling Group took over Tesco Poland which consists of 301 shops. This acquisition strengthens the group’s presence in Poland. Salling Group has also announced that all Tesco Poland stores will be converted into Netto stores.

As of 2021, the business operated a total of 1,719 stores in different countries under the following banners: 

• Netto Denmark (525 stores)
• Netto Germany (342 stores)
• Netto Poland (654 stores)
• Bilka (19 stores)
• Fotex and Fotex Food (107 stores)
• Salling (2 stores)
• BR (29 stores)
• Starbucks (15 stores)
• Carl’s Jr. (16 stores)
• Basalt (10 stores)

In addition to its physical stores, Salling Group has a bunch of online shops such as bilka.dk, fotex.dk, salling.dk, foetex Home Delivery, flowr, skagenfood.dk, husets forsikring.dk and bilkatogo.dk. 

Furthermore, Salling Group is also a franchisee operating Starbucks and Carl’s Jr. restaurant chains across Denmark. 

Salling Group runs the meal box delivery company, Skagenfood, which has developed different online stores for its different banners. 

As of 2015, the firm introduced the first MobilePay solution by collaborating with Fiftytwo. This solution is used in all its stores.

In the financial year 2021, Salling Group reported a turnover of €8.8 billion and currently employs 61,874 employees from 164 nationalities. 

The group developed its own brands which are:

• Vores: a large choice of convenience products
• Levevis: includes both food and non-food items
• Princip: gourmet products at competitive prices for Netto
• Budget: basic products at affordable prices
• VRS: Danish clothing brand
• OGO: a range of organic products developed for Netto
• SCO: a brand of classic bicycles in Denmark

In 2021, Salling Group partnered with Naveo in order to provide online shopping and delivery services to its customers through its brand Fotex. 

In 2022, Salling Group launched its new discount chain under the banner “Basalt” which offers cheaper prices than traditional discount stores. 

Continuing its work towards reducing food waste, Salling Group has adopted the latest technology, Apeel which helps retailers preserve fresh food for a longer period of time.

Pertaining to the logistics solutions, the firm operates the city’s largest warehouse which consists of 100 000 pallets hence ensuring the smooth running of the supply chain. Salling Group optimized its supply chain from vendors to end consumers by introducing the cross docking functionality in SAP EWM. The company works with third-party delivery companies concerning the distribution of products. 

Salling Group is aiming at reducing food waste by 50% by 2030. Furthermore, the company is also taking measures to reduce plastic packaging by 30% for its own brands by 2023. In relation to this, Fotex stores no longer provide plastic tableware.