Ahold is a leading global food retailer. In Europe, it comprises Albert Heijn,  Etos, Gall & Gall, albert.nl, and Albert/Hypernova, and Bol.com. In the U.S., Ahold operates Giant Carlisle, Giant Landover, Stop & Shop, and the Peapod online business.

Recently, Klaus Behrenbeck of the McKinsey consulting firm interviewed Ahold CEO Dick Boer about the retailer’s revamped strategy. These are some highlights of the interview:

• “The company has gone through a number of phases, and it would be wrong to highlight only our strategy over the past two years. I think the turning point for Ahold actually came in 2006. At the time, the company was a mixed bag — different brands, different structures, even different businesses, with food retail in Europe and food service in the United States. So the board asked us to do a full review of our business.”

• “That review led to a clear statement, that our focus would be on food retail, and our focus would be on markets where we were — or could become — number one or two. We sold the wholesale division. We started moving toward continental strategies, with a clear delineation between Ahold USA and Ahold Europe.”

• “Essentially, we laid the groundwork for regaining credibility among our stakeholders, both internal and external. But we also needed to show the market that we had a strategy for growth. We started working on our next phase, and that led to our current strategy: ‘reshaping retail.’

• “We had a few things going for us, already, at that time. We’d decided to close down our hypermarkets and focus on supermarkets, convenience and smaller-store concepts, and the online channel — all mainly to help fulfill the daily needs of consumers. We felt that was our domain, what we were good at. We also had the benefit of a diverse and highly skilled team, both in the United States and Europe, that we’d built over the past few years.”

Click the Ahold logo to read more of the interview.