In Sweden, grocery retail is conducted in cooperation with independent ICA retailers, who own their own stores. ICA Sweden handles, among other things, joint purchasing, logistics, central market communication and overall development of the store network.
In Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all stores are owned and operated by the wholly owned subsidiary Rimi Baltic.
Apotek Hjärtat, with nearly 400 pharmacies in Sweden, is an important part of ICA Gruppen’s endeavour to attain a leading position in health. With respect to purchasing, the customer offering, organisation and loyalty programmes, coordination is conducted with ICA Sweden.
ICA Bank fills several important functions within ICA Gruppen. In addition to providing a growing range of user-friendly banking services – and insurance through ICA Insurance – ICA Bank helps strengthen loyalty to ICA stores while also reducing the cost of financial flows in the ICA system. Commissions, net interest income and other revenue contribute to earnings, while the use of ICA Bank’s own card helps minimise fees to external card companies.
ICA Real Estate is the Nordic region’s largest real estate company in the retail sector. Its overarching role is to meet ICA Gruppen’s long-term need for the right premises at the right locations. This is done through a combination of owning, leasing out and developing marketplaces. The property portfolio is actively managed, and fully developed properties are sold on a continuing basis.
A group structure with great advantages
Since ICA Gruppen was established in 2013 we have made a concerted effort at building a robust and synergistic company structure that is adapted to meet evolving consumer behaviours, a fast pace of digitalisation and widespread sector convergence. Our change work has resulted in a large number of structural changes to give us a greater ability to leverage synergies within the Group. Coordination has successively increased and been deepened and broadened, and today has been extended to encompass central areas such as the offering, customer insights, locations and marketplaces, investments and purchasing. By cooperating and taking advantage of economies of scale – physical as well as digital – advantages are created for our customers, operations, employees, society in general – and ICA Gruppen.
Greater cooperation in multiple areas...
Coordination between the businesses makes it possible to provide strong, relevant customer offerings.
Access to data-driven customer insights from loyalty programmes provides valuable information on preferences and behaviours – and also enables personal offers to be made.
Co-location strengthens local marketplaces and makes life easier for customers.
Coordinated online solutions and development of food ecosystems.
Coordinating investments benefits all operations and promotes financial efficiency.
Coordinated sourcing ensures good prices and the right quality. It also enables the Group to have coordinated social and environmental requirements for suppliers.
...which provides benefits for:
- Making every day a little easier
- Attractive and relevant offerings
- Co-locating operations and coordinated online solutions mean people can get several things done all in one place
- Integrated loyalty programmes – bonuses at ICA, Apotek Hjärtat and ICA Bank
- Insurance for every phase of life
- Quality and value for money
- Strong brand loyalty
- Opportunities for synergies and economies of scale
- Making marketplaces more attractive through co-location of operations
- Access to extensive customer insights
- Strong brands
- Good prices and the right quality
- Broad assortment
- Structures for e-commerce
- Less administrative burden
- Financing options
- Helps make life easier and more sustainable
- Exciting opportunities to move between different types of operations within the same group
- An entrepreneurial culture with great opportunities to make a difference
- Coordinated environmental, health and quality initiatives
- Jobs and tax revenue
- Robust rural communities
- Infrastructure for the supply of groceries and medicines, as well as banking and insurance services
