Leroy Merlin: New investments in Greece
LEROY MERLIN completes its 15 years of operation in Greece in 2022, consistently offering since 2007, according to a company announcement, complete solutions for renovation, renewal, repair and decoration and helping over 1.5 million Greeks to build their dream home.
From the first store opened in the Greek market (2007, Airport shopping park), LEROY MERLIN has, according to the announcement, total investments of 115 million euros in the country, while since 2012 it has managed to increase its financial figures by 120 %, calculating to reach 191 million euros in turnover for 2022. Today, the company has 7 physical stores in Greece and 1 in Cyprus and employs 1,300 employees.
The company, a member of the Adeo Group, a global leader in home improvement, a new strategic move involving an investment in two new fast-moving warehouses in Athens and Thessaloniki, an investment of €700,000 that will serve both the supply of the stores and and e-shop orders.
In Athens, the new distribution center of 7600 sq.m. of LEROY MERLIN, located in the area of A. Ioannis in Rentis, is going to operate as the company’s first Dark Store in Greece from next December, while the second center is located in Thessaloniki. With these two Dark Store distribution centers, the company expects to significantly expand its dynamic service level, making available its solutions for home recovery and improvement from end to end throughout Greece.
Investments in Greece continue
Speaking about LEROY MERLIN’s next day at a recent presentation held to celebrate 15 years, LEROY MERLIN’s general manager for Greece and Cyprus, Olivier Arduin, stated that the company’s ambition was to transform from a retail store, to leader of Home Improvement’s Physical and Digital platforms.
Demonstrating this strategic commitment, Olivier Arduin pointed out as axes of the development plan: the two new Dark Stores that will operate in Athens and Thessaloniki, the further development through physical stores in areas where LEROY MERLIN has not had a presence to date, the development new concept stores (e.g. exclusive garden items), the design of a new logistics center of 35,000 square meters, the preparation for the launch of the marketplace, as well as many services, as part of the company’s digital transformation strategy to strengthen remote sales, the provision of complete personalized solutions of partial or total renovation and above all to improve the customer’s multi-channel experience.
As Olivier Arduin noted: “For 15 years, through its uninterrupted operation in Greece, LEROY MERLIN has proven in practice that it supports and invests in the country. To date, we have managed to have a presence with 7 physical stores in the major cities of Greece and through our online services to reach the rest of the regions, offering solutions and improving the homes of consumers in Greece. All of this could not happen without the contribution of our people, who make up the LEROY MERLIN family, as we all work together towards a common goal. To offer our solutions a better home life, home repair and improvement at the best market prices. Together we succeeded and created a two-way relationship of trust with our goals. This relationship is for us the biggest motivation to continue for so many more years and even more”.
Commitments and Social Responsibility
Also important is the company’s social contribution over the years, epitomized by the #giakalo Corporate Social Responsibility Program. Based on its commitments and practical support through this program, LEROY MERLIN has carried out 185 #giakalo actions in the last 2 years.
Following the Adeo Group’s strategy for a more positive/sustainable home, and adapting to the local level, LEROY MERLIN is committed to actions on key pillars such as: reducing the CO2 footprint, thus actively contributing to global neutrality, waste management, safety, the production & distribution of sustainable/positive products, training on self-construction (DIY) and product reuse, strengthening the circular economy, while placing great emphasis on supporting the local communities where it operates.
At a local level, the company’s Marketing Director in Greece and Cyprus, Irini Chalkiadaki, notes that: “The company has taken actions to reduce its environmental footprint, such as the transport of goods and business travel with the most environmentally friendly solutions , the management of waste through the collection and recycling of it and the conversion of the operation of the shops to paper for free. It is also planned to turn off the lights in all stores in Greece during the night hours to reduce energy consumption, while from 2023 photovoltaic panels will be gradually installed in several stores, starting with the Larissa store.
At the same time, as a company we are encouraging customers to reduce their own environmental footprint by creating recycling areas and offering free electric vehicle charging in all stores, and we are planning to launch a range of sustainable home improvement products in 2022. Of course, our work could not lack the contribution to the local community which is active and which we constantly support with renovations of public structures, the support of charitable organizations and the practical support to municipalities after natural disasters”.
The person is a priority
At LEROY MERLIN, the goal for the coming years is not to continue to invest in the human-centered model that it applies to its employees, it tries to prove through continuous training, seminars, an emphasis on its safety and the development of development for everyone. As noted by Anna Pazoulis, the company’s HR Director in Greece and Cyprus, “Today both 47% of our administrative positions in stores and head offices and 40% of top management positions are filled by women, with the aim of reaching 50% in 2023!”
At the same time, the modern company is adopting a hybrid work model for head charts as part of a transition to a more work-life balance model while de-prioritizing the practical recognition of each person’s contribution, trying to keep pay at higher levels. of those prevailing in the retail market or defined by law as minimum wages, and always in conjunction with performance reward money. “For 2022, the company proceeded with horizontal increases of 2% for all 1,300 colleagues and combined them with additional benefits such as free mobile phones with unlimited communication and data usage as well as meal cards,” says Anna Pazoulis.
Commenting on the 15-year anniversary in Greece, the President of Leroy Merlin Greece & Cyprus, Leroy Merlin Poland, Bricoman Poland & Leroy Merlin Ukraine, Philippe Roger, said: “Greece is a country where we have a presence and we are steadily growing and expanding, as we see that the part of renovation and Home Improvement is becoming more and more dear to the Greeks. We continue to remain in Greece investing in our digital transformation, and hand over the baton for the new era of LEROY MERLIN to Agathe Monpays, who will undertake to continue the electronic project of the outgoing Managing Director, Olivier Arduin. I wish her a good start in her new duties, while saying goodbye to Olivier Arduin with a big thank you for his contribution to the company over the years.”
Agathe Monpays, in turn, commented: “I am very happy that my presence at LEROY MERLIN Greece coincided with the celebration of the company’s 15 years of operation in Greece and I can be part of this celebration and this event. I look forward to him working with the teams in Greece and Cyprus and together we can enter the next phase of the company’s development in such a dynamic industry as that of Home Improvement”.