The Diverta bookstore chain, part of the RTC group, controlledby businessman Octavian Radu, saw a 7% rise in revenues in thefirst half of December against the previous few months' average,thus offsetting part of the 30% decline reported in the first 11months of 2008.
"December contributes 20% to the company's overall turnover,"said Loredana Dobranis, vice-president of Diverta's retail-salesdepartment. In other words, the bookstore chain expects 7 millioneuros from sales of books, toys and IT products. The sales rise wasinfluenced by this being the winter holiday season, when demand forpresents is more significant.
This year, the Diverta chain, one of the leading bookdistributors on the Romanian market, alongside Carturesti andHumanitas bookstores, will end the year with a 35-36 million-euroturnover, down 25% on last year.
"We tried to make up for the sales decline on the entire retailmarket by opening new bookstores in Bucharest, in Baneasa ShoppingCity and AFI Palace Cotroceni, which have a 2,000 square-metrecumulated retail area," said Dobranis. In October Diverta opened anew store in AFI Palace Cotroceni shopping centre, following anover 320,000-euro investment in a 650 square-metre store. Theinvestment in the Baneasa Shopping City-based store, which openedin September, amounted to 400,000 euros.
On the other hand, 11 stores across Romania were closed thisyear, covering an overall area of 2,000 square metres.
These closures also brought about a 25% cut in employee numbers,to 730, with around 180 staff being made redundant, according to ZFestimates.
"Since the beginning of the year, Diverta has sought to adjustthe employee structure in every store. We studied the hours whereadditional personnel is needed, introduced 12 part-time jobs,revised the operating flow and improved these processes," specifiedLoredana Dobranis.
According to her, the most important project is analysingactivity in each store and deciding on the number of personnelneeded and their working hours based on traffic levels in specificintervals in the day. Moreover, wages of employees in the Divertachain have been cut by up to 38% in a bid to reduce costs, afteremployees saw steady increases for ten years, according to previousstatements from Octavian Radu.
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