Dollarama reports higher Q2 profit as shoppers look for savings on essentials

“It’s only one small a part of our retailer,” Neil Rossy advised analysts on a Wednesday name (on Sept. 11), the place he was questioned in regards to the firm’s meals merchandise and rivals enjoying in the identical area.

“We are going to control all retailers—like all retailers control us—to be sure that we’re aggressive and we perceive what’s on the market.”

Competitors for grocery {dollars} is rising

Over the past decade and as customers have extra just lately sought offers, Dollarama’s meals merchandise has expanded to incorporate bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta bought at costs on par or beneath supermarkets.

Nevertheless, the competitors within the {discount} phase of the market Dollarama operates in intensified just lately when the nation’s greatest grocery chain started piloting a brand new ultra-discount retailer.

The No Identify shops being examined by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20% cheaper than {discount} retail opponents together with No Frills. The grocery big is ready to provide such price financial savings by counting on a smaller retailer footprint, fewer chilled merchandise and a hearty vary of No Identify merchandise.

Although Rossy dismissed notions that his firm is a grocery store challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar. “All retailers in Canada are reasonable about the truth that everyone seems to be everybody’s competitors on any given merchandise or class,” he stated.

Rossy declined to disclose how a lot of the chain’s gross sales would overlap with Loblaw or the meals class, arguing the huge number of objects Dollarama sells is its power relatively than its grocery merchandise alone.

“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a really extensive assortment of various departments that considerably characterize the outdated five-and-dime native comfort retailer,” he stated.