- Metro Cash and Carry
-
METRO Cash & Carry 
Type Private Industry Wholesale Founded 1964 Headquarters Düsseldorf, Germany Key people Frans W.H. Muller, CEO Products FMCG Revenue 
€33.1 billion (2008)Employees ~100.000 (2007) Website www.metro-cc.com METRO Cash & Carry is an international self-service wholesale retailer. It operates across Europe and in some countries of Asia and Northern Africa. It is the largest sales division of the German trade and retail giant METRO AG.
METRO Cash & Carry is different from B2C retail chains (such as Walmart, Carrefour or Tesco) in that its business concept is targeted towards professional customers rather than end consumers. The cash-and-carry concept is based around self-service and bulk buying. METRO Cash & Carry serves to registered customers only. Core customer groups are hotels, restaurants, caterers, traders and other business professionals.
Contents
International operations
As of 2007[update], METRO Cash & Carry has operations in the 29 countries.
Metro Cash and Carry around the world
Makro logo
METRO in St PetersburgCountry First Wholesale Center Number of Wholesale Centers 
Germany1964 123 
France1971 92 
Russia2001 52 
Italy1972 48 
China1996 37 
Spain11972 34 
United Kingdom11971 33 
Poland11994 27 
Ukraine2003 26 
Romania1996 25 
Turkey1990 18 
Netherlands11968 16 
Vietnam2002 15[1] 
Hungary1994 13 
Bulgaria1999 13 
Austria1971 12 
Czech Republic11997 12 
Belgium1970 10 
Portugal11990 11 
Greece11992 9 
Serbia2005 7 
Morocco1991 7 
Croatia2001 6 
Denmark1971 5 
Slovakia2000 5 
India2003 7[2] 
Pakistan2007 5[3] 
Moldova2004 3 
Japan2002 3 
Kazakhstan20092 2 
Egypt120102 0 1 operates under the brand name makro
2 expected opening
Turkey
The first METRO Cash & Carry stores in Turkey opened in Istanbul in 1990. As of 1990[update] the company operates eighteen stores in the following cities:
Bulgaria
The first two METRO Cash and Carry stores in Bulgaria opened in Sofia and Plovdiv on 18 March 1999.[4] As of 2010[update] the company operates 13 stores in 11 cities (including Metro Kompact 2 stores):
- Sofia (x2)
- Plovdiv (x2)
- Ruse
- Varna
- Stara Zagora
- Burgas
- Blagoevgrad
- Pleven
- Veliko Tarnovo
Metro Kompact 2 stores in Bulgaria:
A number of other stores are planned.
India
The first METRO Cash & Carry wholesale center in India opened in Bangalore in 2003. Currently there are 7 wholesale centers in operation, two in Bangalore [5] and two in Hyderabad [6], of which one was opened on 30 November 2006. The Mumbai store was opened in 2008 at Bhandup.[7] and the Kolkata store located at Kalikapur, EM Bypass in 2008.The metro cash & carry out was opened at [Ludhiana] city in [Punjab] on Jallandhar bye pass road in the first week of September 2011. It has now opened its second store in Mumbai at Borivili..
Poland
The first Makro Cash and Carry shop was opened in Warsaw, Gdynia and Łódź in 1994. Now the company has 25 stores in:
Romania
METRO Cash and Carry was one of the first international food and non-food retail chains to enter the Romanian market, opening its first store in 1996 in Bucharest, near Henri Coandă International Airport.
As of 2008, it operates 25 stores in major cities across the country and is one of the most well-known chains. Metro has stores in the following cities:
The supermarket in Oradea is one of the most successful of the branches and has been especially popular with Hungarians, who are crossing the border to buy products from the hypermarket since prices are significantly cheaper in Romania than in Hungary. This phenomenon has mainly started since Hungary joined the European Union, an occurrence which has increased prices in Hungary.
Serbia
The first Metro Cash and Carry store in Serbia opened in Belgrade in 2005. As of 2011[update] the company operates 7 stores in six cities:
Belgrade stores are located in Zemun, Krnjača and Vidikovac.
Pakistan
Metro Cash and Carry opened its first wholesale center in the city Lahore on October 31, 2007. Second store was opened in the Pakistan's capital Islamabad on April 3, 2008. The year 2009 marked the opening of three more Metro Cash and Carry centers in Lahore, Karachi, and Faisalabad, bringing the total number of stores at 5.[8] Plan of additional 10 stores are under way. Its main head-office is located in Lahore at Thokar Niaz Baig and vice-head office in Karachi
Ukraine
Egypt
On May 18, 2008, METRO Cash & Carry announced its market entry into Egypt under the MAKRO brand name. The first wholesale center is expected to open mid 2010.
Portugal
Makro Cash & Carry is present in Portugal since 1989. The expansion of the company was extremely fast and at the end of the first year of activity Makro was leading the industry. The then innovative concept of “all under one roof” offer represented a key weapon in this growth, since it gave customers the possibility to purchase in one place everything they needed for their businesses, both in Food and Nonfood areas. The first store opened in Portugal was installed in 1990 in Alfragide (Lisbon) and today the company has eleven operating units in the main urban and economic centers of the country. Currently Makro Cash & Carry Portugal is second only to its main competitor, Recheio, a wholesaler belonging to Jeronimo Martins Group. Makro Cash & Carry Portugal doesn't want to be a mere supplier, but a complete partner to it's customers, and therefore several initiatives are presented seasonally to all customer segments on Makro's portfolio of customers. The company is present in the following cities since:
- Lisbon - 1990
- Matosinhos - 1990
- Gaia - 1990
- Palmela - 1991
- Albufeira - 1992
- Coimbra - 1993 (a new store opened in 2010 to replace the original one)
- Braga - 1996
- Cascais - 2000
- Faro - 2001
- Leiria - 2003
- Aveiro - 2008
See also
References
External links
Categories:- Metro Group
- Supermarkets of Bulgaria
- Supermarkets of Croatia
- Supermarkets of the Netherlands
- Supermarkets of Pakistan
- Supermarkets of Poland
- Supermarkets of Romania
- Supermarkets of Serbia
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.