Engaging with consumers

We actively engage with consumers to better understand their needs and preferences, enabling us to adapt our offering of affordable, safe and quality products. We interact with consumers through three main channels, in line with our business strategy and the commitments set out in our Code of Conduct¹:

• studies and customer insights to guide our commercial and marketing decisions;

• providing consumers with relevant, trustworthy information about product price, quality, safety and innovation;

• providing customer service and/or support channels.

The management of the relationship with consumers is ensured by specialized and multidisciplinary teams (such as Customer Support Services, Customer Ombudsman, Ethics Committee, Marketing), which can resort to internal teams (Product Development, Quality and Food Safety, Sourcing, among others) to enable an active and accessible engagement².

Understanding consumers

In all the countries where we operate, our teams analyse market trends to support commercial and operational planning, as well as to develop the assortment, and identify the key factors that may influence product prices for end consumers.

To better understand consumers, we regularly carry out telephone interviews, focus groups, observational studies, and analyses of global trends. In some cases, we use data-based techniques that may include real-time interactions to understand more about in-store experiences and the perceptions of quality, innovation and prices most valued by customers. This engagement helps us to assess what consumers want and to identify opportunities for improvement³.

We also engage with customers through social media, responding promptly to their concerns and comments. We also run brand and product activation campaigns, giving customers the chance to try our latest products and share their experiences.

Providing information to consumers

We help consumers make informed choices by adapting our assortment and product communication to the reality of each market, as well as through our Companies’ websites and social media pages, informational campaigns and product packaging.

Product Information

Beyond the technical and legal information provided on food packaging, and guides accompanying non-food items (such as personal care products or household appliances), we also voluntarily provide additional information.

Information in other media

As part of our commitment to food literacy, the responsible use of products and the promotion of informed choices, our editorial publications and multi-channel communication with consumers ensure the provision of clear, accessible and up-to-date information on food and healthy choices.

Pingo Doce includes cooking tips and suggestions on food packaging, encouraging the use of fruit and vegetables as side dishes. The Company also uses its website, social media and the Sabe Bem magazine to share quick and easy recipes – as part of its promotion of a healthy lifestyle and, in particular, the Mediterranean diet – and to promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables, fish, meat and soup. With an average print run of 100,000 copies, this bimonthly magazine was the most widely read cooking publication in Portugal, with an average audience of over 550,000 readers. Sabe Bem (Tastes Good) usually includes articles written by the Portuguese Directorate-General for Health. The Pingo Doce website also features an extensive collection of recipes for reusing leftovers and every month updates the list of its lactose-free and gluten-free Private Brand products.

In 2025, Pingo Doce invested in high-reach media channels, including television, cinema and digital platforms, with spots highlighting the removal of flavour enhancers and artificial colours from the composition of its Private Brand products, a milestone achieved in 2023. The Company also collaborated with “sustainability ambassadors” (influencers) who shared content, including on healthy eating. During the year, the banner was also present at the first Viver Saudável (Healthy Living) magazine event, the Nutrition Summit & Exhibition, dedicated to nutrition professionals and the general public.

Since 2021 Pingo Doce and CUF (a business group specialised in health care) have promoted the programme A Saúde Alimenta-se (Feeding Health), which raises awareness of the role that a diversified and balanced diet can play in health, encouraging consumers to select the foods that best suit their needs and lifestyle.

Biedronka published two Czas Na... (Time For...) digital magazines, focusing on seasonality and more sustainable lifestyles. Dada magazine, that receives its name from Biedronka’s Private Brand specialising in products for babies, children and mothers, is produced in a collaboration between Instytut Matki i Dziecka (Institute of Mother and Child) and Biedronka’s Quality Department. This partnership resulted in the development of the e-book Dada & Rodzina (Dada and Family). The Company also used various media, channels and communication platforms – such as leaflets, newspapers and social media posts – to share knowledge about healthy eating habits across 32 publications.

Aimed at younger consumers, the campaign Gang Produkciaków (The Product Gang) was launched for the 2024-2025 school year and featured 17 heroes. Biedronka also launched the tenth edition of Gang Biedroniakow (The Biedronka Gang), as part of its 30^th anniversary celebrations. In what was the largest plush toy collection launched to date, this campaign featured 19 mascots related to daily in‑store operations, the importance of fresh products, and the Company’s history.

In Colombia, of note is the initiative La Placita de Ara (Ara’s Little Market), featuring an in-store market-style space to promote fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables, sourced locally and at affordable prices.

Other initiatives aimed at engaging consumers and communities related to food and eating habits are described in “Programmes and projects to engage and support affected communities”, of this chapter.

¹ Engagement takes place (i) continuously, at daily points contact (e.g., stores, Customer Support Services and digital channels), (ii) before and after relevant launches or changes (e.g., focus groups, usability/labelling tests and pilot projects) and (iii) periodically, through structured surveys on habits and satisfaction, complemented by ad-hoc initiatives whenever necessary. The insights collected inform decisions regarding assortment, communication, labelling and product reformulation, as reflected in the consultation exercises described below, in “Actions towards our consumers”.

² For more information on the composition and responsibilities from the functional departments of our corporate centre and their relation to the corporate risks identified whose reporting is conducted directly and regularly to the Group Executive Board, please refer to 21. “Organisational Charts Concerning the Allocation of Powers Between the Various Corporate Boards, Committees and/or Departments Within the Company, Including Information on Delegating Powers, Particularly as Regards the Delegation of the Company’s Daily Management”; and item 53. “Details and Description of the Major Economic, Financial and Legal Risks to which the Company is Exposed in Pursuing Its Business Activity”.

³ Where relevant, we adopt specific measures to capture the perspectives of groups with greater risk exposure (e.g., children, older people and individuals with allergies/intolerances), including targeted sampling, readability and accessibility tests for labelling/instructions and, when direct engagement is not feasible, we use, e.g., sector studies.