“We want to go beyond the 100-store mark this calendar year,” says Ivana Martinakova, the executive who runs dm drogerie markt’s operations in Romania along with Cristian Crisan. The two took the reins of the business at the beginning of last year, following the departure of Milan Radin, who had run it for a decade, since the arrival of the retailer in Romania.
The retailer is also investing in store image, expansion of the retail area and equipping employees with smartphones to help them more easily find information to be able to provide recommendations to customers, she added.
German-held dm drogerie markt entered Romania in 2007, long after having entered the more developed neighboring markets of Czech Republic or Hungary, where it inaugurated its first stores in 1993. The retailer has been expanding at a rate of 7 to 10 new stores a year so it now has 92.
“We have 92 stores in all the big cities of Romania now.”
Dm drogerie markt opened seven stores in 2017 and remodeled many of the existing ones, to optimize retail space. Most of the new stores scheduled for 2018 will open in the second half.
The retailer’s sales increased by over 18% in 2017. Its 2016 revenue stood at a little more than RON250 million, according to the latest official data available, which means 2017 revenue amounted to more than RON300 million.
Like-for-like growth in early 2018 stood at more than 20%, Ivana Martinakova said. (EUR1=RON4.6348)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)