Business / Q and A with CEO

Ringing up sales on new retail mode

By WANG MINGJIE (China Daily) Updated: 2015-10-30 08:07

What is Metro Group's biggest achievement in China?

Over the past 20 years, the Metro brand has been well established among the customers and the public for its high standards of food safety, freshness, wide assortment and customized services.

We are proud that the government authorities picked Metro as food ingredient supplier for high-profile international events such as 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. We are closely connected with the local community.

We are pleased that our Chinese operations are now in a strong commercial position to pursue our long-term sustainable growth.

What is the secret of your business' success in China?

It's crucially important to understand the Chinese market, which varies so much from region to region, city to city, in various aspects such as local assortment, customer relationship, shopping preferences and market trends. You can only manage this through localization.

We work closely with local producers and suppliers to define and develop assortment for local customer groups. This happens with a very strong focus on quality and food safety.

In recent years we have invested a lot in quality assurance and supplier partnerships.

Another example is that in China we see clear business opportunity in "welfare solutions" where big enterprises hand gift packs to employees at festive occasions as care and appreciation. This is very unique to China and we have defined it as one of the strategic channels for our business growth in China.

What leadership qualities do you consider important when leading your team to grow in the Chinese market?

In general, we have global leadership principles including customer centricity, entrepreneurship, trust in employees and sustainability.

When it comes to our China team, more specifically the management needs to possess profound understanding of the local market and community, comprehend the local culture, business and life, and be flexible and innovative to tap the potential.

According to our latest operating structure, countries are empowered through decentralization to take better and faster decisions locally to focus on creating value for the company and all stakeholders. This holds particularly true for the China team, because the Chinese market is so dynamic and business opportunities can only be well captured locally.

What do you consider important when cooperating with local partners in China?

We always believe in the principle of fair give and take. One example is that we have invested continuously since 2007 in the "Star Farm" initiative to train local farmers to produce agricultural goods throughout the entire process according to Metro's high standards and guidelines. This helps local farmers enhance agriculture productivity, efficiency, and sustainability.

We buy qualified "Star Farm" products directly from them, which cuts middleman links to give the farmer more income and benefits.

Over 20,000 farmers have been trained and now around 2,600 "Star Farm" traceable products have been developed for our stores in China to enhance the food safety assurance.

How do you motivate your international team?

I think the most important aspects are purpose and authenticity.

Our purpose is to support the success of our customers and we aim to be the champion for independent business. Combined, a strong focus "on getting things done" and a straight forward culture, it generates quite some energy.

By doing something good we can generate more success all together.

Since we defined this approach as the core DNA of our brand, we have seen an enormous increase in new ideas for value creation.

Furthermore, we try to foster open communication, transparency and continuous feedback as part of our culture.

In other words, our leaders need to be more than good experts and disciplined managers. They need to be accessible and credible.