Hema is Hema again, CEO Saskia Egas Reparaz said while announcing a sales growth of 7 % and profits that almost doubled.
Customer recognition
2023 was a successful year for the Dutch chain: both sales and profits rose for the third year in a row. Gross sales climbed to 2.1 billion euros and profit before tax to 61.2 million. Egas Reparaz stressed the size of these results, despite “the challenging conditions” such higher costs that cause customers to spend less.
Customer satisfaction figures are rising, the CEO says, as customers are meant to recognise that Hema is “really being itself again”. The chain opened nine new shops last year, including the 100th shop in Belgium. A further nineteen Dutch shops were remodelled to the new store concept, as was the webshop.
Fifteen new stores in 2024
However, the retailer stresses that substantial investments remain necessary. It will therefore invest the 2023 profits entirely in product development, shops (both physical and online) and employees. In 2024, 125 shops will be fitted with the new store concept and fifteen new shops will open, mainly in Belgium and France.
At the same time, Hema wants to transform from ‘a company that does sustainable things’ to ‘a sustainable company’. The chain does this by reducing carbon emissions, ensuring decent working conditions in the production chain and having more items produced closer to home. Recently, it opened a sourcing office in Turkey to that effect. Nevertheless, given the continuing challenging conditions in the retail sector, Egas Reparaz remains “focused on costs”.
