The FINANCIAL — The German Metro Group grocery retailer is to invest UAH 1bn ($127.2m) in 20 openings in Ukraine within the next 2.5 years.
The company is to launch 4-5 Real grocery hypermarkets (up to 10,000 m2), as well as Metro Cash & Carry stores (on a maximum area of 16,000 m2) and Metro Baza outlets (up to 2,000 m2).
The company is reported to be attracted to the market by the fact that in 2010 in Eastern Europe the Metro Group increased its revenues by 7.1% year on year (to $24.3bn), while the international sales as a whole increased only by 2.6% ($96.7bn).
During the last two years, Metro moved from the second to the third position in the rating of the largest retailers in Ukraine, according to retail.ru.
As Retail Update Russia learned from Igor Guglya, general director of GT Partners Ukraine research company, Metro Baza stores, which are currently represented by two units in Ukraine, will open in Ukrainian cities with a 150,000-250,000 population. With reference to the low saturation of such markets with modern FMCG areas, this format has great development potential.
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