The Profi chain is resuming expansion in Bucharest betting on anew store format it has already tested in Timi[oara over the lastfew months. The company has announced it will also open its 11thsupermarket in Bucharest at the end of September, and that it willbring major changes to the retail concept of the stores it willopen from now on.
The retailer's new strategy comes nearly one year after thecompany was bought by Enterprise Investors investment fund andafter the management change operated by the new shareholder byappointing German-born Gunter Grieb - former manager at Kauflandand at OBI - at the helm of the operator.
"We are keeping the discount policy because the market iscurrently much too sensitive to price changes. The brand willremain the same, the main changes will occur in terms of theproduct offering -the number of fresh fruit and vegetable SKUs(stock keeping units) listed in stores will double," saidGrieb.
The changes will heighten competition among Profi and the biggestsupermarkets operating on the market - Mega Image, Billa, andCarrefour Market.
Profi retailer entered the Romanian market in 2000 on thediscount store segment, which also includes Penny Market (Rewe),Plus, MiniMax, and the Delhaize le Lion (with Red Market).
Grieb added that Profi had recently started remodelling itsstores, with 20 of them scheduled for this operation in 2010,following an investment of about half a million euros.
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