China is now home to Metro’s 750th store worldwide.
The German retailer has opened its newest wholesale market in Chongqing, one of the world’s largest municipalities, with over 30 million inhabitants.
The new Metro store, situated at Chongqing New North Zone (CNNZ), offers a selling space of about 8000 sqm and approximate 16,000 food and non-food items, some 90 per cent of which are sourced locally.
“Today’s opening doubles our presence in Chongqing and we are convinced Metro has a good role to play in the prosperity of the City of Hills,” said Jeroen de Groot, MD of Metro cash and carry China.
Ahead of its 50th anniversary in 2014, Metro aims for further extension of its network that is already present in 29 countries serving more than 20 million customers.
“The ever-growing sales network enables us to deliver better service and more value to our customers. Such an amazing city of Chongqing is thereby a fitting location to host this landmark event,” said Olaf Koch, chairman of the management board of Metro Group and CEO of Metro cash and carry.
Having entered China in 1996, the continuous efforts of Metro to grow and adjust itself to the diversified customer landscape in the Middle Kingdom have in recent years paid off with a significant sales growth and expansion course.
Alone in 2012, 12 new wholesale stores were opened across the country, setting a company record for openings in a single country over a calendar year. Nine more outlets have been added so far this year to lift the location tally to 72, making China the third biggest market by store number on par with Russia after Germany and France.
“Metro remains committed to the Chinese market and aims to retain the recent expansion momentum in the long term. We strive to be even more engaged with our Chinese customers and constantly improve service quality and enhance the value to them,” said de Groot.
