The Profi chain is resuming expansion in Bucharest betting on a new store format it has already tested in Timi[oara over the last few months. The company has announced it will also open its 11th supermarket in Bucharest at the end of September, and that it will bring major changes to the retail concept of the stores it will open from now on.
The retailer's new strategy comes nearly one year after the company was bought by Enterprise Investors investment fund and after the management change operated by the new shareholder by appointing German-born Gunter Grieb - former manager at Kaufland and at OBI - at the helm of the operator.
"We are keeping the discount policy because the market is currently much too sensitive to price changes. The brand will remain the same, the main changes will occur in terms of the product offering -the number of fresh fruit and vegetable SKUs (stock keeping units) listed in stores will double," said Grieb.
The changes will heighten competition among Profi and the biggest supermarkets operating on the market - Mega Image, Billa, and Carrefour Market.
Profi retailer entered the Romanian market in 2000 on the discount 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 its stores, with 20 of them scheduled for this operation in 2010, following an investment of about half a million euros.
The Profi chain is resuming expansion in Bucharest betting on a new store format it has already tested in Timi[oara over the last few months. The company has announced it will also open its 11th supermarket in Bucharest at the end of September, and that it will bring major changes to the retail concept of the stores it will open from now on.
The retailer's new strategy comes nearly one year after the com
