Van Duuren to stock HEMA’s fifth store in Austria
Last month HEMA opened its fifth branch in Vienna. This means a further expansion of the collaboration between HEMA and Van Duuren.
HEMA commenced its operations in Austria in 2018, and this appears to have been a great success, as the retailer has now opened its fifth branch there. Van Duuren was already active for HEMA in the stocking of their stores in Spain, and also set up the distribution to Austria for the Netherlands’ best-known retailer.
Jeroen van Duuren: ‘Last year my colleagues Karyna Chuvaldzhyan and Wilfred Donkersteeg went on a working visit to Austria in order to be able to guarantee an optimum preparation for the new service.’ Van Duuren provides stocking services for a number of retailers, and the organization of deliveries to busy inner city stores requires intensive pre-planning. Van Duuren: ‘One of the most important factors for a successful collaboration is that we leave nothing to chance when we do this pre-planning. For example, we also go and look at the location. We visit the stores where the products are to be delivered, we discuss things with the store manager and we look at which specific factors could be of influence on making deliveries to a specific store. You can probably imagine that delivering to congested town centres can present its own unique challenges. It’s not rocket science, but is mainly a matter of commitment. We always make sure in advance that we know exactly what we’re going to be faced with.’
HEMA’s fifth branch in Austria is a flagship store for the HEMA brand, and was opened by the ambassador. The two-storey shop has a floor area of 600 m2 plus 100 m2 of warehouse space and offices. The store is located in Vienna’s second shopping mall in one of the capital’s largest residential areas. Its assortment is attuned to the immediate neighbourhood, which is mainly home to many families with (young) children. So HEMA is a success in Austria, and this also applies to the typically Dutch products, as the stroopwafel (syrup waffle) is one of their best-sellers.
Jeroen van Duuren concludes: ‘Right from the start we were delighted to be able to include a fantastic company such as HEMA in our portfolio of retail clients. After having begun by stocking their stores in Spain, going on to do the same in Austria is another milestone for our company. What is exceptional is that they have already opened their fifth shop in Austria after such a short time.’