Turkish discounter BIM has officially announced plans for a new banner called 'File'. The new banner is most likely to be a supermarket format, targeting upper segment consumers.

Although the earlier news suggested a premium supermarket model, it is more likely that BIM's take on the supermarket will rather be a soft discount store with predominantly premium features. Premium supermarkets are rather niche categories in Turkey with limited expansion opportunities, and BIM has the strongest supplier base in the country which would easily adapt to premium private label products.

BIM is well-known as the "Turkish Aldi". However, its expansion into the supermarket channel reminds us more of Lidl's supermarketisation. Given segregated consumer spending in Turkey, it may prove worthwhile for BIM to target A+ consumer groups via a different method than its eponymous banner, which mainly looks to middle to lower-middle income groups. Needless to say, the latter is a much larger population than the former.

The new File banner will only be launched in Turkey for now, as BIM's international operations in Morocco and Egypt are discount-only.

Source: www.planetretail.net