02 January 2008: More than 1600 establishments have joined the “Compro en Mercamadrid” brand

The “Compro en Mercamadrid” brand was presented to the retail business community of Madrid on January 24th during an event attended by the Madrid Retail Associations, a large number of Associated Retailers, a significant representation of Wholesalers and a number of Business Associations related to the food industry. Since then, numerous actions have been implemented to secure the project and now there are 1619 establishments that have joined the effort, assuming the fundamental values of the brand: commitment, trust, trade and quality.
These establishments want to differentiate from the rest with a symbol that offers their customers improvements in quality and service and the security offered by procuring their goods at a business-friendly outfit, safety and hygiene based on quality, diversity of products and provenances, concentration of companies, transparency in commercial transactions, use of new technology, training and modern storage and conservation facilities for their products.
A total of 908 establishments joined last year (2006) and 711 have been joining throughout the current calendar year (2007), amongst them some large enterprises that have decided to join our trade identification “Compro en Mercamadrid”.
Some of the largest companies from the industry that joined us last year (2006) are: Ahorramás a chain that owns 180 establishments, Hiperusera with 57 establishments and Darbe with 24.
During 2007 several other large enterprises have adopted the brand, such as:
- Dinosol (Supersol): a chain of 425 establishments distributed between the Peninsula (230) and the Canary Islads (195). Dinosol is one the first supermarket chains in Spain having 14000 employees and several distribution chains for their products.
- Supermercados de Alimentación de Madrid a chain that owns 28 establishments that have joined the “Compro en Mercamadrid” brand and has stores and supermarkets throughout the larger metropolitan Madrid area: Alcorcón, Algete, Boadilla, Coslada, Fuenlabrada, Móstoles, Parla and the City of Madrid.
- Diocarnes, at 40 establishments is a leading company in meat and cold cuts and sausage product distribution. Their infrastructure enables them to reach any point of the Spanish geography.
- Establecimientos Plaza with their 15 stores now members of the “Compro en Mercamadrid”  brand  and distributed in the City of Madrid and the rest of the province: Coslada, Mejorada del Campo y Rivas Vaciamadrid.
Markets and Food Malls
The “Compro en Mercamadrid” brand has also been promoted in Municipal Markets and Food Malls. We have met with the managers and visited the retailers to disseminate the "Compro en mercamadrid" brand “door to door” explaining each small owner the requirements to join, the good practices code implemented by the members and leaving brochures and membership forms with them.
The Diego de León Market, the Camino Viejo de Leganés Food Mall, the Federico Grases Food Mall, the Antonio López Food Mall and the La Laguna Food Mall are some of the food malls that the personnel from the Retailer and User Office have visited as part of their promotional calendar.
Specific merchandising
Another marketing action implemented under the strategy to promote the “Compro en Mercamadrid” brand  has been to deliver specific materials according to a previously designed plan and ordered by postal codes and then visiting member enterprises to give them mittens and plastic bags with the “Compro en Mercamadrid” logo for each establishment. A total of 13.480 mittens and 101.100 plastic bags were delivered at the completion of the action.
“Ocio y Descuento” Magazine
We have designed a quarterly magazine, “Ocio y Descuento”, or “Leisure and Discount”. A magazine that publishes numerous promotions and discount offers for the retail members.
The magazine prints offers such as opportunities to attend shows, theme parks, travel, shop for products, visit other establishments, etc., all of it with very interesting discounts. The magazine is a free quarterly and is sent to all the retail members in the mailing list.
Trade Fairs and Events
We have also participated in numerous Trade Fairs and Events where the “Compro en Mercamadrid” brand has been featured in a promotional space that served also as information booth on the  brand to all interested parties: International Gastronomy Summit “Madrid Fusión” (January 2007), Fruit Logistica Fair in Berlin (February 2007), Seafood Fair in Brussels 2007 (April 2007), the ACYRE Gastronomy Meet (May 2007), The Food Industry Salon (May 2007), Conxemar (October 2007) and Expotural (November 2007).
Press coverage
Conventional and specialized trade press, as well as Activity Reports have also been used as means to disseminate the brand. Articles featuring the brand have been periodically published in the following periodicals: (ASAJA, Distribution and Consumption magazine, Adepesca Report, Fedecarne Report, Amapesca Report, the Servihostel Restaurants, Hotels, Providers and Services Guide, etc.)

Brand’s objetives
The objectives pursued by thee "Compro en Mercamadrid" brand include the following:
- Actively promote a commercial management system based in quality, innovation, service and permanent improvement criteria.
- Provide the establishments that procure their goods, commercialize and/or distribute products in the Mercamadrid Food Park with value added through this identity brand as a symbol of reliability and trust in the food industry.
- Reward the loyalty of the Mercamadrid Food Park buyers.
- Empower the wholesaler markets and bring the Mercamadrid image closer to the customer stores, and therefore, closer to the final consumer.