Frozen food is big business in Scandinavia with Denmark, Sweden and Norway traditionally leading the per capita consumption ranking of frozen food globally. The significance of the regional market has recently been illustrated by the expansion of France’s successful frozen food retailer, Picard, into Sweden.
Picard has over 900 stores in France and has expanded into Belgium, Spain and Italy, along with Sweden. It opened its first store in Stockholm in 2013 and now has 12 stores, with plans to expand to 50 in the country in the next few years amid reports that the concept has been well received locally. At the time of entry, Fredrik Strömblad, head of operation for the Swedish frozen food agency, was quoted as saying that “If Picard can offer something new in the frozen food area, then they will be successful. The Swedish stores are already good at selling frozen food so therefore it is important for Picard to attract customers with new products”.
It was hoped that Picard’s successful business model and an injection of interest in new frozen food products might help revitalise a Swedish frozen market, which despite enjoying one of the highest market shares in Europe, has traditionally been very much focused on commodity products and which has started to suffer from the growth of chilled food.
For more information, don’t miss our next issue of Frozen Food Europe magazine!