Germany's REWE Group plans to invest around €5 billion between 2021 and 2025 to expand its international business.
According to REWE Group deputy CEO Jan Kunath, the company aims to increase organic gross sales to more than €20 billion by 2025, and the number of stores to around 5,000.
The company added that it plans to consolidate and expand its market position in the countries where it operates through targeted investments and smaller acquisitions.
REWE Group ruled out the possibility of entering new markets but added that ‘if an opportunity arises to obtain an attractive market position in a central, southern or eastern European country through a takeover, it will certainly be examined if the supermarket or discounter business is involved.’
Currently, the company operates around 4,500 stores in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Lithuania.
In December of last year, REWE Group announced that Jan Kunath will continue to serve as the deputy chairman of its board until the end of 2025 after its supervisory board extended his contract, which was to expire on 31 December 2022, to 31 December 2025.
Other Initiatives
Last year, the company announced strategic partnerships with EnBW and Shell to build one of Germany's largest and modern fast-charging station networks.
It also opened a new store on Zeppelinstrasse in Cologne that offers a hybrid shopping service; giving customers the option to pay at the checkout or via the retailer's 'Pick & Go' service.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest Retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
