The Rossmann drugstore chain wants to expand its existing online business in China with offers in a partner’s stationary branches. It is about a cooperation with the supermarkets of the company Freshippo – a commercial offshoot of the Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, which also operates a delivery service. Rossmann announced on Thursday that products such as cleaning products and cleaning products, and later other goods, will be sold in around 300 Freshippo stores.
The company is expanding its own sales strategy in China and gaining a foothold in the stationary trade there, according to the head office. A year ago, managing director Raoul Roßmann had pursued a more cautious concept for the People’s Republic: For the time being, online appearances should remain there because the Rossmann shareholder Hutchison Whampoa is already active in the country through his Watson drugstore chain, according to the earlier approach in March 2022 .
Rossmann confirmed his business figures for the past year. Key data were already available in January. Accordingly, the competitor of DM and Müller was able to increase both the number of its stores and the business volume.
While in 2022 smaller retailers were often struggling with the consequences of the energy crisis or with a lack of staff, the group managed to increase sales by 9.5 percent to almost 12.2 billion euros. Some of the recent rise is also likely to come from price effects of inflation. As usual, Rossmann did not provide more detailed information on the profit – it was now generally said that this had “also developed positively”. At the turn of the year 2022/2023, the company had around 60,500 employees and over 4,500 branches. This year 245 stores are to be added, including 70 in Germany. (dpa)