The retailer has seen the number of customers go up so far but “sales are a bit lower than last” year because of a different business model. “We sell more products to more customers, but at lower prices. However, for the entire year we estimate that the turnover will go up,” said the general director during the launch event of Auchan Titan, a commercial center in Bucharest which resulted from the merger of the Auchan Titan and Iris projects.
Patrick Espasa, Auchan Romania’s former head, announced in April that the retailer plans to post profit this year and Bellon said the objective still stands.
Auchan Romania completed this April the rebranding of the remaining 20 Real hypermarkets it took over in September last year following a regional deal with Metro Group.
It thereby increased its local network to 31 hypermarkets and more than doubled its turnover last year to RON 4.6 billion (approximately EUR 1 billion), but it also posted a EUR 15 million loss.
The investments allocated by French retailer Auchan this year for the two projects, as well as money spent on the rebranding of the last Real hypermarkets will amount to of EUR 100 million by year end, said Patrick Espasa, the former general director of Auchan Romania, this April.
Works on Auchan Drumul Taberei, which will feature a hypermarket and office space, are in an advanced stage and the hypermarket could be completed in December, ahead of the initial deadline which was the first half of 2015, added Espasa. Works on the EUR 60 million Coresi Brasov are also underway and the hypermarket will be completed next year. (source: business-review.eu)
