ROMANIA: Kaufland’s plans for 2017 | Progresiv

German retailer Kaufland will continue to invest in expanding the stores chain, the investment budget for the financial year 2017 being of 100 million euros for opening new business units and remodeling existing establishments, according to Valer Hancas, Manager Corporate Affairs & Communication Kaufland, who attented Trade Round Table conference. The retailer also confirmed it will enter the online sales segment, with plans to open its own e-commerce store next year.

"We will maintain the pace of openings of the last two years, the plan for next year being to inaugurate 5-6 hypermarkets. We will also continue to invest in remodeling and expanding the Fresh Corner project at nationwide level. Regarding the online, I can not say with certainty whether we will open the store in the first or second half of the year. The platform will be developed at the headquarter, but we employ people in the online team in Romania as well", said Valer Hancas.

With this project, Kaufland will enter a market estimated at 200 million euros, where are already active retailers such as Carrefour, Cora and Mega Image. Kaufland has taken the first step in this direction earlier this year when it announced the establishment of its own online sales department, which will operate under the umbrella of Kaufland Omnichannel Imternational GmbH. In addition, the retailer has already launched an online order and delivery service in Berlin.

Kaufland Romania operates a chain of 110 hypermarkets. In 2015 the company reported a turnover of 9.2 billion lei, up by 15% over the previous year, and this year the company's representatives stated that the objective is to keep the company Kaufland on profit, without communicating the growth pace.