Metro Cash&Carry Romania has completed a 12 million-euro investment in a 10,000m2 logistics and distribution warehouse, being the first large commercial group to embrace a growth strategy in this direction.
"In 2002, we conducted a survey that showed we were incurring losses accounting for 5-7% of turnover, because of logistics and distribution problems, such as the lack of certain product categories in some of our stores," said Bert Van der Velde, a member of the Metro Cash&Carry Romania Board and the company's administration director.
Geodis, the company that landed the contract, is also operating the logistics platform. The move made by the Romanian branch of the German commercial group is deemed as natural, considering the market growth.
"It is only natural that we should pay more attention to the distribution chain, as we can get a tighter grip over some elements that eventually determine the final price of products," Bert Van der Velde also stated.
The logistics platform has two main components - the ambient platform (for dry-food and non food products) and the multifresh platform. The first spreads on 7,700 square metres and the second, used for fresh products, has a 5,600 square-metre area.
The company has constantly exceeded its sales estimates in the past few years, posting sustained growth that has been acknowledged by Metro AG in the quarterly and annual reports.
Metro Cash&Carry officials had estimated turnover worth 700 million euros for 2003, but, in the end, full-year results were more than 60 million euros higher. ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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