Metro to develop convenience store chain in Ukraine

2011-12-05



The German grocery retailer Metro Group is planning to develop a chain of convenience stores in Ukraine under the name Moy Magazin ("My Store"). The project is to be operated on a franchise basis with partners obliged to purchase goods from Metro Cash & Carry hypermarkets at a 5% discount instead of paying royalties.
The project is expected to increase sales to small-scale wholesale companies, which take up 40% of the group's joint turnover.
At the beginning, the new network is to include about 10 pilot units, operating mainly in the east of the country. Two first stores have already started operating in Soledar and Mariupol (both in Donetsk Province).
The new convenience stores will offer about 500 SKUs, 150 of which will have to be Metro private label products. These self-service stores are to operate on areas of at least 50 m².
In Ukraine the group is present through 26 of its units, and in 2010 the company reported sales of €807m ($1.1bn). As Retail Update Russia reported in June this year, Metro announced that within a further 2.5 years it will open about 20 new stores in the country, to include brands of Real, Metro Baza, and Metro Cash & Carry.