UK: Dia considering UK market entry | Progresiv
In an interview in The Grocer, Spain-based DIA’s chief corporate officer, Amando Sánchez-Falcón, has said that the retailer could consider entering the UK through a similar arrangement as that between Sainsbury’s and Denmark-based Netto. 
While Sánchez-Falcón said that ‘there is a discount opportunity in the UK’ he stressed how any investigation of the market by DIA was at a very early stage, saying: “We haven’t actively approached anyone, but if there is anyone in the UK considering developing a discount proposition we would be ready to look at opportunities.”
If DIA was to undertake a market entry, the article suggests that its approach would be a ‘cautious’ one, which would require them to ‘...test things first to see if they make sense...’
By tying up with an established retailer in the UK would provide DIA with scale, knowledge and shopper understanding, while enabling it to grow sales of its increasingly strong private label ranges. Through the trialling of new formats, such as Fresh by DIA, which has seen it introduce fresh-focused private labels, and the expansion of its health and beauty format, Clarel, which has led it to launch Bonte, DIA has a wide selection of private label brands that it could export to the UK.
If undertaken in conjunction with an established retailer, as per the Sainsbury’s-Netto joint venture, the capital expenditure required by DIA would be less than entering a new market on its own, which would make strong financial sense in the medium term. (www.retailanalysis.igd.com)
