Leading German "do-it-yourself" company in Serbia - OBI to have trade centers built in all major cities

As a member of the delegation of business representatives of Germany, Michael Vinzing from company OBI visited Serbia on January 25, 2010. Vinzing, the CEO of the company that ranks first in sales of "do-it-yourself" products in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia, has been entrusted with the task of organizing further expansion of the company's operations in the region of Southeast Europe.

"Serbia, with its 7.4m inhabitants, represents an exceptionally interesting market for OBI for years. Therefore, this company researched business opportunities and founded the office in Belgrade. OBI's appearance in the market of Serbia will depend on global and domestic economic development" - it is stated in the company's announcement.

- The aim of this step is strengthening of OBI's leading position in European "do-it-yourself" market. The company's Department for Business Development is currently negotiating with domestic and international investment companies on construction of trade centers that will gather various hypermarket chains and furniture stores at one place, as well as OBI as a company that provides "do-it-yourself" products - it was announced.

OBI's aim is to become the leading player in Serbian "do-it-yourself" market by fully using its advantages over the competition. That will be achieved through establishment of the network of stores around the country with the focus on the cities with over 100,000 citizens and expected dynamic growth of purchasing power.

As no. 1 in Germany, OBI is the leading force that stands behind the whole trade in Germany and numerous other countries in Europe. Since 1993, the company has been using its strong position in domestic market in order to make progress with the expansion at international level. OBI's market share is constantly growing and the company is constantly improving its position.

OBI is focused on Europea and it is currently present in Germany and 12 countries of central and east Europe with total number of over 530 stores. OBI's vision is to become complete leader in the market - in both sales and market share, as the market leader in the field of product innovations and services, in realization of the concepts and formats of stores. OBI is no. 1 in numerous international markets, and it is also on its way to become the market leader in other countries. OBI develops long-term sustainable business model.

According to the annual report of Tengelmann Group, OBI managed to increase its total sales by 5.3%, to 4.18 billion EUR, in shortened fiscal year 2008 (April-December).

The Group's business headquarters is in Vermelskirhen, Germany, and it employs over 38,000 people. Since it opened its first store in 1970, the retail surface of OBI's stores grew from 870 square meters to over 10,000 square meters. Total retail surface of OBI's stores now exceeds 3.5m square meters. OBI stores has broad and comprehensive offer of products, and each of them has between 40,000 and 60,000 articles in its offer.

This voluminous offer of products includes gardening equipment, building materials and elements, tools, sanitarian elements and products for organization of interiors. Target groups are, mainly, physical persons - families, people who like "do-it-yourself" solutions and semi-professionals – buyers with various ideas and needs will find everything they need for organization of their homes in OBI stores.