Mercator-S closes highly profitable year with large Serbian retail conference
Mercator-S, which operates IDEA and Roda supermarkets, Mercator hypermarkets, and Velpro centres, has improved performance by strengthening its retail network and organizational culture, accelerating its digital transformation, and partnering with local producers and suppliers.
The company’s strategy relies on working with Serbian producers, meaning that 95 percent of its revenue comes from domestically made products or local distributors. In the ten months to October, IDEA, Roda, and Mercator stores sold more than 15 kilos of vegetables and over 12 million kilos of fruit grown on Serbian farms. Shoppers also took home 10 million kilos of 100-percent locally grown meat, 11.6 million litres of Serbian milk, 7 million kilos of flour, and nearly 9 million bottles of oil.
The retail group is also focusing on growing its store brands that have been accounting for an increasingly large share of receipts at the till. Ukusi moga kraja (‘A Taste of Home’), a range of more than 200 traditional Serbian products made using exclusively local ingredients and recipes, has seen sales grow by more than 25 percent. K Plus and Ukusi moga kraja took the lead, but other brands also performed well, with Moj dan, Slova, and Hrusty selling more than 10 million units each.
Mercator-S is also basing its growth strategy on expanding its network of retail outlets.
