Supermarket sweep

Europe's second-largest retail network wants to expand on the Polish market and open a score each of Intermarche and Bricomarche supermarkets. Each of the stores will have space amounting to some 1,200 sqm and will be worth around zł.2 million. Now everything depends on the building permits the future owners will have to obtain.

In H1 2006 the Musketeers noted a seven-percent increase in turnover due to the new strategy, including the introduction of 3,000 products at lower prices, as well as changes to the management and income split between the center and the franchiser.

"Now the franchiser, who is the owner of the store, has a bigger profit, and our business is more profitable. This makes the model of the Musketeers store even more attractive and lucrative," says Marek Feruga, deputy president of the Musketeers Group and the owner of two stores.

In order to operate as an Intermarche store, new franchisers have to provide 20 percent of the investment, or bring in the location, whose space must be at least 400 sqm. "The financial input is not a payment for the license but an investment in one's own company. This differs Musketeers' system from the classic franchise," says Magdalena Bielak from ITM Polska, the Musketeers Group's Polish division.

The Musketeers Group has operated in Poland since 1996. Last year's results of zł.1.7 billion turnover placed the group in first place on the Polish supermarket sector. Intermarche stores noted one of the highest increases of turnover per sqm. Each day some 5.5 million people visit Intermarche supermarkets.