Jubilees of MAKRO Spain and MAKRO Czech

2 countries in METRO´s international portfolio are celebrating jubilees this year – MAKRO Spain has recently reached its 50th anniversary, while MAKRO Czech is celebrating its 25th birthday this week. On the back of steady growth over the past decades and solidly established wholesale brand among local customers, both subsidiaries are ready to continue their success story guided by the group´s sCore strategy.

MAKRO Spain is one of the first overseas markets that METRO set out to explore back in the early 1970s. Today it runs 37 wholesale stores and 3 depots in 15 regions across the country, serving over 900,000 customers with the multichannel wholesale distribution. “Over the past 50 years, we have successfully established MAKRO as a key wholesale player in the Spanish market. Now is the time to take the next step forward to consequently drive the growth of our company”, says David Martínez Fontano, CEO of MAKRO Spain.

Over the course of the next 5 years, MAKRO Spain is set to further enhance its multichannel capabilities to consolidate its leading wholesale position for the hospitality sector in Spain. Among the ambitions, Food Service Distribution (FSD) is aspiring to grow significantly by 2027. At the same time 37 wholesale stores will continue to play an important role for the nationwide customer coverage and in-store shopping experience, but also serve as hubs for the Out-of-store (OOS) food service distribution. As a key digital sales platform, the online marketplace MAKRO Markets, launched in Spain in 2021 and specialized in non-food offers, will continue to benefit hospitality customers with added value through a constantly extended assortment. And in addition, the ever-expanding sales force team is well trained to engage with local customers offering even more personalized services.

In the Czech Republic, MAKRO was among the first foreign trading companies to set up local operations when the Ostrava wholesale store opened in 1997. Currently the company operates 13 wholesale stores to offer multichannel offers towards its about 500,000 customers. “We have taken a meaningful journey over the past quarter of a century. Today, we are able to provide our customers both in the gastronomy and from the trader sector with outstanding products and services not just in our stores, but also through the food delivery service. Through our sales force team, we take an individual approach to every one of our customers in order to best meet their needs. At the same time, we are constantly innovating and coming up with new digital solutions and thus helping to set the future growth course,” said Atila Yenisen, CEO of MAKRO Czech.

MAKRO Czech’s franchise program for small independent grocery shops, “Můj obchod”, was launched in 2012 and today counts already over 600 shops in the network that is set for further growth. Its state-of-the-art logistics center in Kozomin, opened in 2018, is serving all 13 stores to ensure efficient logistic processes and operations. Moreover MAKRO Czech´s sales force team consists of about 300 specialists who visit their professional customers on a daily basis to ensure customized services and solutions.