DIY store chain Dedeman, founded by Bacău businessman Dragoș Pavăl, 44, could reach over 300 million euros in turnover this year, considering that the company’s owner says the 15% turnover growth target “has long been exceeded”.
After a year 2009 with 252 million euros in revenues, Dedeman is
set to become the biggest player on the DIY market, leaving
Praktiker behind, following an aggressive expansion plan carried
out in full crisis.
Dedeman has invested around 100 million euros in nine new stores in
the past two years. The chain now has 21 stores, with another three
to five stores scheduled to open in 2011.
How has a Romanian executive managed to expand his business in
times of crisis?
“Fortunately, we acted as if there were a crisis at all times. When
the crisis started, we looked at the organisational chart because
we saw it was a common thing to do. We examined it and started to
evaluate the situation: we could not fire anyone. We’ve streamlined
our activity constantly,” Pavăl said.
Other players put investments on hold and it took time for them to
reorganise and calculate their losses. Some believe it is mature to
be more conservative at present. Pavăl has adopted the model
currently pursued by Cora, Kaufland and Decathlon, which make new
acquisitions more or less on a monthly basis.
Whilst in food and clothing retail, foreigners now call the shots,
on the DIY market and in electronics & home appliances retail,
Romanians have managed to stay on top.
“If Romania had more entrepreneurs, the crisis would not have been
felt as strongly. I am talking about entrepreneurs who do less TV
shows and more for their companies and who do not become involved
in several businesses at the same time. You cannot run 20
businesses in parallel,” adds Pavăl, who is also involved in the
Dedeman Trucks business (transport for the store chain) and Dedeman
Automobile (Dacia-Nissan dealer in Bacău county).