German supermarket group Rewe plans to add 20 stores to its Russian network this year after reporting a 35% growth in sales last year. The company, which currently employs a staff of about 2,800 across 58 Russian stores said that, despite the challenges due to the current economic situation, its business performance on the Russian market has to date been very successful.
German supermarket group Rewe plans to add 20 stores to its Russian network this year after reporting a 35% growth in sales last year. The company, which currently employs a staff of about 2,800 across 58 Russian stores said that, despite the challenges due to the current economic situation, its business performance on the Russian market has to date been very successful.
'In 2004, we launched our supermarket concept in Russia; since then, we have achieved annual growth rates - accounted in euros - of between 30 and 40%', said Frank Hensel, CEO of Rewe International.
The expansion of the supermarket chain is focussed on central Russia with Moscow and the surroundings of the Russian capital. New locations will be also opened in the Central Blackearth Region (Voronezh, Lipezk, Belgorod, Kursk), in the Nizhny Novgorod region (Nizhny Novogorod, Dzerzhinsk, Arsamas), in the Vladimir region and in Bryansk. 'The 20 new locations complement our existing store base of 49 supermarkets, which are primarily situated in Moscow. In the Russian capital we are meanwhile the number three in the supermarket segment,'said Janusz Kulik, member of the Management Board of Rewe International and in charge of the operative business in the CEE countries.