Mercator (retail)

Poslovni sistem Mercator, d.o.o. (pronounced [mɛɾˈkaːtɔɾ]; Latin for 'merchant') is a Slovenian business conglomerate. One of the largest companies in Slovenia by annual revenue, it is the parent company of the Mercator Group of supermarket chains. It is wholly owned by Croatian joint-stock company Fortenova Group.

Mercator d.o.o.

Type	Limited liability company
Industry	Retail stores
Founded	December 5, 1989; 33 years ago (1989-12-05)
Headquarters	Dunajska cesta 107, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Key people	Tomislav Čizmić (President of the Manager Board)
Brands	Mercator, Lumpi, Minute, Bio Zone, Free Zone, Olea, Dax, Finesse, Buddy, Kitty, Maxen
Total equity	Fortenova Group
Number of employees	20,300 (2021)^[1]
Website	Corporate website

In addition to Slovenia, Mercator Group is also present in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia. The core business of the Mercator Group is the retail of everyday consumer goods through a diversified retail network across Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mercator dates back to 1949 and the founding of the wholesale company Živila Ljubljana – the predecessor of Poslovni sistem Mercator, d. d., which was reorganised as a limited liability company on 4 July 2022.^[2] At the time of its founding, Mercator sold goods from a warehouse. Today, however, Mercator is one of the most modern retailers in the region with 20,300 employees across the entire Mercator Group.^[3]

Since April 2021, Mercator has been owned by Fortenova Group It acquired the shares from Agrokor, which had bought the Slovenian retailer in 2014. Fortenova initially owned 89.11% of Mercator, increasing its stake to 90.005% after the general meeting held in September 2021.^[4][5] Fortenova became the sole owner of Mercator on 1 April 2022, after forcing out minority shareholders. Then, in mid-April, the General Assembly approved the delisting of the company's shares from the stock exchange.^[6]

As the most successful local retailer, Mercator aims to establish state-of-the-art store concepts on all of its markets. Its continued growth is based on efficient business models that include an attractive offer for customers, long-term partnerships with local and regional suppliers, new store concepts, as well as operational efficiency and cost efficiency across all the areas of its business.^[7][8]

Retail markets of the Mercator Group

Slovenia

Poslovni sistem Mercator, d.o.o., is the largest retail company in Slovenia with 1,014 retail units, 466 of which are located in Slovenia, 341 in Serbia, 128 in Montenegro, and 79 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also boasts 163 franchise stores in Slovenia (as of 31 December 2021).

 

Mercator Šiška Slovenia, which was recently listed by IGD, the world's leading professional organisation, as one of the 15 stores in the world worth visiting.

The company's core business is the sale of consumer goods, with a separate business area for homeware (M Tehnika, 41 stores) and wholesale (13 Cash&Carry centres).

Mercator's two independent production companies Mercator – Emba, d.o.o.,^[9] and Mercator IP, d.o.o.^[10] are also active on the Slovenian market. Moreover, Mercator also owns the company M – Energija, d.o.o.,^[11] which runs the Maxen ^[12]self-service gas stations.^[13][14]

Mercator is recognized as a Slovenian national retailer due to the diversity and accessibility of its stores. Customers also recognise Mercator for its broad range of products and for having the largest selection of local products. The popularity and widespread use of the Pika loyalty card,^[15] which is used by practically every household in Slovenia, proves that Mercator holds a special place for its customers.

Mercator not only has a long tradition, but is also a pioneer in numerous innovations. It was the first retailer of everyday products in Slovenia with its own e-commerce website,^[16] the first retailer to set up self-service checkouts, the first retailer to enable shopping with the M Sken and M Sken MOBILE apps,^{[17][18][19][20]} and the first retailer to develop the Moj M mobile platform with the M Pay mobile wallet.^[21][22][23]

Mercator is constantly integrating innovative solutions with its services and offers, gradually changing and upgrading them, adapting them to the needs of customers, and replacing some of them with new ones. This way, it keeps improving both the shopping experience and its own performance, providing customers with what they want, what they need, and what holds added value for them at a given moment, thus developing stores that are tailored to the customer's needs.^[24][25][26]

Mercator's online store, which has been successfully running for more than two decades, is becoming an essential part of Mercator's digital transformation. Its goal is to solidify Mercator's omnipresence or omni-channel approach and secure Mercator's position as the customer's first choice in any given place and at any given moment. Mercator continuously improves its offer so as to make it attractive and tailored to online customers and their buying habits.^[16]

Mercator is investing heavily in the digitisation of its business processes and in digital communication, which it considers to be one of its strategic segments. Thus, in 2021, Mercator introduced a new digital communication channel and an innovative ecosystem that provides users with a holistic experience both inside and outside the digital environment, and goes beyond the limits of traditional communication. Mercator was the first retailer to launch its own media, the content video platform www.msoseska.tv. It is aimed at a broad spectrum of users, regardless of their age and lifestyle, who want to view short and useful content – not only for entertainment, but also whenever they need advice, want to save time, or want to make their work easier. Certain pieces of content on M Soseska (M Neighbourhood) also reflect Mercator's involvement in the Slovenian culture and sports, which Mercator has been supporting for many years.^[27][28][29]

Regional presence of the Mercator Group

In addition to Slovenia, Mercator operates as a local retailer in three other markets in the region: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.^[30]

Serbia

The first Mercator store in Belgrade, Serbia opened in 2002. Today, Mercator S, d.o.o., Serbia has a total of 341 stores in many Serbian cities under the Mercator, Roda, and Idea brands.^[31][32]

Montenegro

Mercator entered the Montenegrin market in 2007. It has been operating under the Idea brand since 2017.^[33][34]

Bosnia and Herzegovina

In 2000, Mercator opened its first store in Sarajevo. In 2014, all stores owned by Mercator BH, d.o.o., Bosnia and Herzegovina were transferred to Konzum. In September 2017, all 83 stores were reacquired by Mercator BH, d.o.o., Bosnia and Herzegovina.^{[35][36][37][38]}

Croatia

In 2014, Mercator's operations in Croatia were acquired by Konzum. Mercator H, d.o.o., Croatia, has retained the real estate operations.^[39][40][41]

See also

• Agrokor
• List of supermarket chains in Slovenia
• List of supermarket chains (worldwide)

References

1. "Annual Report 2018" (PDF). Mercatorgroup.si. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
2. "Mercator je postal d. o. o. Kaj to pomeni?". Dnevnik. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
3. "Mercator d.d. z izgubo, celotna skupina z dobičkom". Dnevnik. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
4. "Delnice Mercatorja z Agrokorja prenesene na Fortenovo". Dnevnik. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
5. "Adijo, Agrokor: Mercator prenesen na Fortenovo. Kdaj bodo za največjega trgovca spet iskali novega lastnika?". Finance.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
6. "Mercator". Fortenova Group. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
7. "O Skupini » Mercator d.o.o." Mercatorgroup.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
8. "Najboljši sosed že 70 let". Mercator.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
9. "Domov". Mercator Emba (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
10. "Mercator Ip, d.o.o." Družba Mercator IP, d.o.o. (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
11. "M-Energija, d.o.o. » Mercator d.o.o." Mercatorgroup.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
12. "Maxen". Maxen.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
13. "Mercator vstopa na trg naftnih derivatov". Vzajemci.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
14. "Mercator » Mercator d.o.o." Mercatorgroup.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
15. "Pika, moja najljubša kartica". Mercator.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
16. d.d, Mercator. "Mercator Spletna Trgovina | Dostavljamo Na 99% Naslovov". trgovina.mercator.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
17. "IN Store - Novice". instore.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
18. "V Mercatorju: konec s čakanjem v vrstah". zurnal24.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
19. "Prihodnost nakupovanja je tu – z M Sken Mobilom". Delo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
20. "M Sken". Mercator.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
21. "Mobilna aplikacija MOJ M". Mercator.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
22. "Mercatorjeva aplikacija Moj M je dobila novo preobleko!". siol.net (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
23. "Mercator plačilno kartico Pika prenaša še na telefon". Tehnozvezdje (in Slovenian). 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
24. "Fotozgodba: Janković odprl največji Mercator". Finance.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
25. "V Šiški odprli prenovljen Mercatorjev hipermarket #foto". siol.net (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
26. "Skrb za potrošnika » Mercator d.o.o." Mercatorgroup.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
27. "M SOSESKA". msoseska.tv (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
28. "Kaj se dogaja v najbolj zanimivi soseski, M SOSESKI?". Akademija Finance (in Slovenian). 2021-08-19. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
29. "M soseska TV | Marketing Magazin". Marketingmagazin.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
30. "Obvladujoča družba » Mercator d.o.o." Mercatorgroup.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
31. "Mercator – S d.o.o. » Mercator d.o.o." Mercatorgroup.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
32. "Mercator -S". Mercator.rs. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
33. "Mercator – CG d.o.o. » Mercator d.o.o." Mercatorgroup.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
34. "O Mercatoru-CG". Idea.co.me (in Serbian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
35. "Mercator returns to Bosnia, opens 83 stores across country". Seenews.com. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
36. "Mercator – BH d.o.o. » Mercator d.o.o." Mercatorgroup.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
37. "Vsak dan prvi - 24ur.com". 24ur.com. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
38. "Home". Mercator.ba (in Bosnian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.
39. "Mercator – H d.o.o. » Mercator d.o.o." Mercatorgroup.si. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
40. "Poročilo o poslovanju Skupine Mercator in družbe Poslovni sistem Mercator, d.d., v obdobju 1-6 2013" (PDF). Mercatorgroup.si. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
41. STA, S. P. , Delo si (2015-05-02). "Prevzem Mercatorja močno povečal obseg tujih investicij na Hrvaškem". Old.delo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2022-07-21.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mercator.

• Official website