Q: How was the year 2024 for your business?
METRO: So far, 2024 has shown a positive dynamic, with METRO Romania’s overall performance in line with our forecasts and continuing last year’s growth path. In 2023, we recorded a net turnover of 10.5 billion lei, 12.7% higher than in 2022, and a net profit of 41 million lei, up 7.9% compared to 2022.
2024 has also been a year of intense effort for our teams across the country in our 30 brick-and-mortar stores, as we continue investing in the omnichannel model. In some stores, work is ongoing to expand and integrate warehouses to facilitate our MShop delivery platform for customers.
METRO is a leading cash-and-carry business, with the core of our customers coming from the HoReCa industry (40,000 customers) and independent traders (60,000 customers). We focus on strengthening our relationships and improving our services for these segments.
We’ve also continued the digitalization process by improving the METRO App, introducing METRO Scan in stores to make shopping and checkout easier, and optimizing the EPOS solution, allowing LaDoiPasi entrepreneurs to manage their businesses more efficiently. This effort is part of our accelerated push to become the most digitalized wholesaler.
Q: How would you characterize your customers this year, after several years of high inflation?
METRO: We’ve seen consumption on a slightly increasing curve, driven by decreasing inflation. Last year, traditional trade had a positive evolution, and in the first months of 2024, it performed better than modern trade. The demand in the food and beverage segments remained stable, while the non-food category saw a slight decrease.
As for our customers in the hospitality industry and among independent traders, we expect better performance this year as the economy recovers. There are signs of increased consumption, including dining out and travel.
Q: Speaking of inflation, Buy more, pay less seems like a mantra for Metro. Was inflation a positive trigger for this strategy? How do you see further optimization for Buy More, pay less? What should your customers expect?
METRO: “Buy More, Pay Less” is not directly linked to inflation or other market developments. It’s a program we introduced to the local market in 2015, driven by our commitment to offering customers predictability for their businesses through a stable pricing policy—Every Day Low Prices.
We were pioneers in this area, and the program was well-received by our customers. Over time, we’ve expanded it from a few hundred SKUs in the first year to 13,000 SKUs today. Around 90% of our customers used the “Buy More, Pay Less” program over the past year.
The program fully eliminates all the temporary promotions and features different prices depending on the procured quantity. The prices decrease as the quantity increases from the same article. Within the Buy More Pay Less program, the price advantage for the regular shelf price is of 5% compared to the modern retail, while on the second tier, the prices are with 13% lower versus the modern retail proposal.
Currently, around 80% of our sales are generated by this program, so our further pledge is to include more SKUs and make it even more relevant to our professional customers, aligned to their own expectations in terms of acquisitions, offering them the best margins possible.
Q: What factors were more challenging for your business? Was it high inflation? It was energy costs or labor shortages. How do you see the supply chains this year, after several years of disruption?
METRO: Inflation has been one of the main disruptive factors, pushing us to find ways to absorb its impact on our customers. Energy costs continue to pressure budgets globally. In terms of labor, we increased our workforce by 6.4% last year, driven by business model expansion.
Other challenges included legislative and fiscal changes.
Q: What is the dynamic of your own brands’ sales in 2024 compared to last year? Do you have a specific target? Why should businesses/consumers choose to buy METRO’s own brands?
METRO: Our own brands—METRO Chef and METRO Professional for the HoReCa industry, and Aro and FineLife for independent traders—offer an excellent balance between price and quality. Both segments have seen solid performance.
For example, METRO Chef was developed with input from industry professionals and covers a wide range of products, from fresh fruits & vegetables to fish, dairy, and staples, to semi-prepared foods. These products are designed to optimize workflow in professional kitchens and help address staff shortages, which remain a challenge in the industry.
Q: Is there anything that METRO can do and no other competitor can do?
METRO: We strongly believe that METRO is the best partner for its professional customers in HoReCa and Traditional Trade industries, offering not only stable pricing and tailored products but also business solutions.
For example, we launched the Vis de antreprenor (Entrepreneur’s Dream) communication platform to highlight and celebrate the success stories of our independent entrepreneur customers, inspiring others to follow their lead. METRO is also the founder of the largest community of independent entrepreneurs in Romania, through our LaDoiPasi proximity retail concept, which now includes over 2,400 stores. We see it as our responsibility to support these entrepreneurs, understand their challenges, and offer solutions. Additionally, we are committed to educating and supporting the HoReCa community with relevant content, such as yearly guides on topics like tourism, events, and trends.
Last but not least, we organize trainings and workshops to our customers and we offer them business and marketing advice.
METRO is also present at the major events of the hospitality industry and we stay close to our customers by staging cooking shows, demos, masterclasses, both at our competencies center Gastronometro, at fairs and exhibitions and at our customers’ locations.
Q: 2024 was remarkable in terms of LaDoiPasi franchise expansion. What can we expect in 2025?
METRO: One of our greatest achievements this year was the opening of 60 LaDoiPasi stores in one day on June 28th. We plan to expand the LaDoiPasi chain in response to market demand and to continue the testing phase for LaDoiPasi Extra.
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