Mere felt the war sanctions. They are taking on the German discount chains with real discount stores, now they are focusing on our region.
What happened? The Russian Mere group wants to open 200 stores in three years and achieve a turnover of 700 million euros. Currently, they are busy surveying the market and searching for supplier partners. An e-mail sent to them revealed that they are also entering the Hungarian market, reports a Profit.
Who are they? They started in Russia in 2009, but since then they are present in 20 countries. From the region, they also opened stores in Romania, the Czech Republic and Serbia, but they also expanded in Western Europe. The latter was suspended by war sanctions, there are places where they are trying again under the name MyPrice (Belgium), there are markets that have been abandoned for the time being (e.g. Spain). Now they seem to be focusing on Eastern Europe.
How do they start? In their first year, they would open 20 stores in Budapest and the agglomeration.
What do they know? Mere is a hard discount chain. They are very cheap. Do they run their logistics to the top, like the German Aldi or Lidl? No. In their average 1,000 square meter stores, you can buy goods from boxes and pallets. This is the low-cost solution, really.
And the mall stop? Mere’s stores have a large floor area, which creates an interesting situation in Hungary. Greenfield investments larger than 400 square meters must be approved in the retail market – since 2015, applications must be submitted to the Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office. This restriction has become known as the mall stop. This did not hold the multis back, although after their introduction in 2012, the regulation somewhat curbed their expansion. It will be interesting to see how enthusiastically the Russians’ projects are supported or hindered by the government office.
