Irish retailing giant Dunnes Stores is preparing to launch an online store for grocery, according to the Sunday Business Post newspaper.
Irish food, textiles and homewares retailer Dunnes Stores is getting ready to move into the prosperous area of online retailing, according to the Sunday Business Post, with plans for the operation already at an advanced stage.
While the traditional bricks-and-mortar stores sell food, fashion and homewares, the online focus will be on groceries – a substantial range of products will be available to shoppers on the webstore.
Dunnes will go head to head with retail giant Tesco in the online grocery sector. Tesco has 28 per cent of the Irish grocery market compared to Dunnes’s 23 per cent.
The newspaper says that the retailer has already started to hire staff for the online business. Dunnes has begun “sounding out potential key staff” who are currently working for several online retailers based in Ireland, reported the Sunday newspaper.
Grocery retailers Tesco, Superquinn and SuperValu are already operating in online retailing in Ireland. Aldi, Lidl and Marks and Spencer have no online presence in the area of grocery in Ireland. M&S launched an online fashion store in Ireland earlier this year.
With consumers are using online price comparison websites to check the grocery prices of Irish supermarkets, it makes perfect sense for Dunnes to launch a webstore at this time to capture some of the huge growth in the online grocery trade.
Here is a timeline of Dunnes Stores’ operations since its founding 68 years ago:
1944
Founder Ben Dunne Snr. opens the first Dunnes Stores shop on Patrick Street in Cork.
1947
A second store opens on the North Main Street in Cork. This was followed by store opening in Mallow, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford.
1956
The St. Bernard own-label brand is introduced to stores.
1957
The first Dublin store opens on Henry Street.
1960
A superstore opens on South Great Georges Street in Dublin. Grocery is introduced to stores during this decade.
1965
There are nine stores in operation in Dublin, 95 per cent of the business is in drapery.
1966
Ben Dunne sees the potential for an out-of-town shopping centre in the Dublin suburb of Cornelscourt.
1971
The first Dunnes Stores opens in Northern Ireland – Bangor.
1978
More expansion in Northern Ireland when a chain of eleven grocery stores comes on the market.
1980
The first Spanish venture opens in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.
1986
Dunnes Stores expands into England.
2012
Dunnes now has 152 stores in Ireland, the UK and Spain.
There are six stores in England:
Bradford, Heywood, Leeds, Northampton Salford and Tamworth.
There are also five stores in Scotland:
Clydebank, Cumbernauld, Glasgow, Glenrothes and Parkhead.
Dunnes operates six retail stores in Spain:
Coín, Fuengirola, Larios, Mijas Costa and Vélez Malaga.
The group’s headquarters are located in Dublin city centre.
© Profitero 2012
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