German non-food discounter TEDi still sees many blank spots in Europe. The retailer has doubled its targets to 10,000 locations throughout Europe and will both speed up new store openings and look at acquisitions.
“Speed up”
Last year, TEDi opened 333 new shops, of which 93 in its German home market. That pace needs to increase substantially, CEO Petar Burazin believes: “We see potential for up to 10,000 stores in Europe”, he says in an interview with Handelsblatt. Remarkable, because until now Action’s rival had set the target at 5,000 shops. In Germany alone, where the chain is market leader with more than 1,900 stores, TEDi wants 1,000 additional shops. Burazin says he still sees many blank spots: “We are really going to speed up”.
However, the discounter will not achieve its ambitious goals with new shop openings only: rather, the CEO wants to accelerate growth through the acquisition of smaller discount chains, which can no longer compete. The retailer says it can finance those acquisitions with its own cash flow. In Belgium, TEDi recently took a step in that direction with the acquisition of ten stores from bankrupt shoe chain Bristol.
