Kaufland, the hypermarket network owned by German trading group Schwartz, has begun building a logistics centre in Romania worth 40 million euros. The centre will serve the company''s stores, which are to be opened starting this autumn.
"We have identified a plot north of Bucharest and we kick-started the construction of our distribution centre. It will be completed and the centre will become operational once the first stores are opened this autumn," Gunter Grieb, general manager of Kaufland Romania, told ZF.
He declined to comment further, however earlier this year he said the investment in the construction of the Kaufland distribution centre would exceed 40 million euros.
Logistics is a key element in the development policy of the Kaufland store network, and, as they have done in other Central and East-European countries like Czech Repubic and Poland, the German company plans to adopt a very alert and aggressive development pace for Romania. Kaufland is currently building a number of stores, in Bucharest and countrywide, and aims to achieve a pace of 10 stores per year.
Late last year Kaufland raised the share capital of its Romanian company by over 48 million euros, with the money to be used in the first expansion phase of the store network.
Expansion in Romania is being carried out in parallel with that in Bulgaria, where the German group has started building a logistic centre in the east of the country.
In Romania, the investment plans proposed by representatives of the company will exceed 500 million euros over the next five years, which will see at least 50 stores being opened, each with an investment value normally ranging between 8 and 10 million euros.
In Bulgaria Kaufland''s investment plans are estimated at around 300 million euros and involve the opening of 40 stores. Kaufland already has operations in other countries in the region, including Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.
While they are classed as hypermarkets, the largest retail format, Kaufland stores generally have areas of up to 5,000 square metres (close to the lower limit, above which stores are considered to be hypermarkets) and do not include any shopping galleries, allowing the German company to enter residential areas, each store needing only 10,000-15,0000 square metres of space.
Kaufland''s entry on Romanian market this autumn will increase the competition, particularly given the German group''s reputation from the markets it is present on for being highly aggressive in terms of pricing policy.
ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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