Makro is set to launch two ranges for independent retailers in the next two years in a bid to take on Booker's Euroshopper.

It is planning to relaunch own-label value range Aro from January and launch a mid-tier range called Fine Food in 2011.

Aro has been available since the 1980s but the wholesaler admitted customers did not know it was a Makro own-label range. Aro will be relaunched in two stages between January and March and in September next year and is expected to have 700 lines by 2012, including 500 food lines and 200 non-food.

The Fine Food range is also expected to have 700 lines by 2012, including fresh fruit and vegetables, sweets, biscuits and tinned vegetables. Sub-brands are planned, such as fair trade, organic and the more premium Finestro.

The average selling price of both ranges will be 10% to 20% less than similar branded products, but Makro says they will offer the same quality to allow retailers to compete against the multiples and discounters.

The launches are part of a massive own-label overhaul being carried out by Makro's German parent company Metro Group, which this week revealed plans to streamline its own-label ranges from more than 50 to just six, saying the portfolio needed clarity and a clearer focus on customer needs.

"With our new own-brand strategy we are focusing even more on the needs of our core customers, such as hotel and restaurants, traders and offices," said Metro Cash & Carry CEO Frans Muller.

Metro is aiming to increase its sales share of own-label lines from 10% in 2008 to 20% by 2012, increasing sales to 6bn worldwide as new ranges are introduced to each of the 30 countries Metro operates in. Fine Food was launched in Germany in spring this year, for example, and was proving popular among independent retailers, said Muller.

"Traders are a very important sector for us and it is growing fast," he added.

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