Rewe Group's discount banner Penny has announced that it is modernising its regional structure to focus on five regions, rather than the previous eight, in order to balance the chain's performance.
The German discounter boasts approximately 2,200 branches, and has said that the size differences between the individual regional portfolios proved to be disadvantageous. The smallest region is Rosblach with only 189 branches, while the largest, Wiesloch, has 404 branches.
Harmonisation
Stefan Magel, Divisional Board Member Trade Germany and COO Penny, commented, "The experience of recent years has shown that it is easier for the big Penny regions to make optimum use of resources and thereby achieve better results. With the harmonisation of the regions, we lay the foundation to master the challenges ahead.
“Today, we want to prepare for the demands of tomorrow. [...] However, we will only be able to do this if we use every potential to strengthen earning power and to further increase the debt collection quality."
Penny’s goal is to consolidate its geographical layout into the following regions:
- North Region: Merging of the regions Norderstedt and Lehrte. Service is Norderstedt.
- East Region: Merging of the regions of Großbeeren and Rüsseina. Service is Teltow.
- West Region: The former Cologne location becomes the West Region. Service remains Cologne-Bocklemünd.
- SouthwestRegion: Merging of the regions Rosbach and Wiesloch. Service is Wiesloch.
- South Region: The Eching region becomes the South Region and takes over the warehouse location Neuhausen from Wiesloch with the associated branches. Service remains Eching.
Magel added, “In addition to sales concepts, assortments, shopfitting/design and marketing, in particular, our internal processes and organisational structures.
"We are now even faster and more effective with the new structure. And above all, we optimise upstream processes and processes for the employees in the markets."
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O'Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
