« LEROY MERLIN – a positive investor for 100 years more! »
You celebrate your 10th anniversary in Romania, can you please tell us a few words about the LEROY MERLIN Romania company, about its history, its development policy, and its geographical network?
The history of our company in Romania started back in 2009. At the time, a small team started acquiring in-depth knowledge about the Romanian housing market. This work lasted for nearly 2 years, and resulted in a business concept perfectly matching the customers’ needs. For this reason, we opened our first store in Bucharest in 2011 which was very well received by our customers. In 2014, we boosted the company’s expansion through the acquisition of one of our main Austrian competitors – that was in difficulty at the time – and we conducted a major company integration and transformation programme for almost 2 years.
Leroy Merlin Romania is a profitable company nowadays, with more than 2,200 employees and a network of 17 stores located in all the major cities and towns in Romania.
You currently rank the 2nd in Romania. How do you explain this success obtained in such a short period of time?
The achievement of this position is a mix of several key factors in our opinion: the perfect knowledge of our customers; the most tailored and permanently successful business concept; a long-lasting relationship and experience in the store as well as online; committed Romanian teams who have joined our progress-based corporate culture, the development of everyone’s potential, and the desire to succeed together… and we may also add a little luck!
What image of Romania stuck to your mind starting from your arrival up to present? And what about the years to come?
The first image of Romania I bear in mind is the generosity of these inhabitants and our teams. Although the living standards here are sometimes far from those of the Western European countries, locals are ready to do their best in terms of building relationships with the others as well as in their professional commitment. For the years to come, what strikes me with our Romanian friends is their desire to learn constantly and to progress very quickly. Romanians are curious people, eager for knowledge, and we all share authentic human values. We will still be present for many years in this country that we love so much!
LEROY MERLIN ROMANIA
Str. Icoanei nr. 11 – 13,
București, sector 2, 020451
www.leroymerlin.ro
