Zeeman aims for expansion in France and Spain

Even Covid-19 seems unable to stop Zeeman. On the contrary: the Dutch textile discounter wants to open hundreds of new stores in France and Spain. In the remainder of the year alone, ten more are to be opened in France.

100 extra shops in France

Now that the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis is increasingly being felt, the market for discount retailing is growing. Although Zeeman stores in France had to remain closed for eight weeks, customers came back quickly, local CEO Stéphane Bauer said. The Dutch chain does not yet have a high brand awareness in France, but wants to change that now.

Three new stores have already opened in the country in recent months and the chain will be adding another ten or so in the coming months. The Paris region in particular is in sight. Today, the Dutch retailer has 292 French stores, but it sees potential for an additional hundred stores.

For that expansion, Zeeman is now aiming for organic growth, no longer acquisitions from bankruptcies or reorganisations, as the company previously did in the Netherlands and Germany. Since the discounter is a convenience store rather than a destination store in France, it is now looking for locations with a large customer flow in cities with more than 40,000 inhabitants. The stores should ideally be around 250 sqm in size.

Spain is also a priority

In Spain, too, the brand is investing heavily: five years after its arrival, the company now has seventy stores there. However, Zeeman is aiming for one hundred stores in the medium term. “France and Spain are the two countries where our expansion is a priority”, Bauer told Le Monde.

In 2019, Zeeman achieved a turnover of 769 million euros. The company currently has 1,300 stores and, according to Bauer, sells 24 million pieces of underwear every year. Founder Jan Zeeman died at the beginning of June at the age of 78, but the chain remains in the hands – both financially and operationally – of the family.