From garbage bags to cooking pans, from socks to napkins, but also a large cross-section of food: Interspar masters the balancing act of a wide range. Yet the trading company is also under enormous demands. Reason: the changes in society. Managing director Johannes Holzleitner shows how to respond to this.
The restricted mood of the consumer; declining meat consumption; growing popularity of vegan products; a greater focus on cheaper items, which are also offered by the supermarket chains’ own brands – there are several topics that also concern Interspar boss Johannes Holzleitner. “A food retailer like us is of course always a reflection of social development. We are also guided by that,” he says.
Which trends are dominant? “It goes even further to have ready-made products, to make cooking easier, to offer the vegetables pre-cut and to offer the meat and fish already marinated,” he explains. The delicatessen at Interspar is becoming “increasingly gastronomic”: “We used to sell a few olives and a few salads there. Now we are certainly developing in such a way that we will also offer ready-made dishes, such as lasagna, in the future.”
“We are actually the better green market”
How does Interspar position itself? “We don’t want shopping to become a chore, but we want to turn the visit to Interspar into a journey of discovery.” The aim is to create a feel-good marketplace: “Everyone of us likes to go to the green market and I think we are actually the better green market because we have everything compactly in one place.”
The difficulty? „Society is becoming increasingly polar and the poles are becoming increasingly divergent – we also see this in our customer group and therefore in their purchasing behavior.” This is, for example, especially visible in the development of demand: on the one hand, on the other hand, own brand S. products are becoming increasingly common. The budget is being stretched, but at the same time more premium items are being purchased.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
