Page 8 - CH 2-2023 EN

NEWS
Poco expands in eastern Germany
Germany’s largest discount supplier for furnishing and renovation is expanding in eastern Germany and coming to Gera, a of 92,000, where Poco will be opening its 127th store this summer. The conver- sion and modernisation work has already begun, the company has announced. The store opening in Gera will fill a regional gap in the midst of the existing Poco lo- cations in Chemnitz, Zwickau, Erfurt and Leipzig.
Homefashion Group:
Albert Voogd succeeds Debbie Klein
The Dutch Homefashion Group, which runs the home fur- nishing chains Leen Bakker and Kwantum, has announced a change in its management. From 1 March 2023, Albert Voogd will succeed Debbie Klein, according to press re- ports.
Debbie Klein had been CEO of Leen Bakker since 2018 and additionally took over management of Kwantum in 2020. Albert Voogd has 30 years of experience in retail. Home- fashion Group is active in the Benelux with 276 brick-and- mortar stores and four webshops.
Hermes / Otto: New warehouse for 320,000 rugs
Hermes Fulfilment is the central logistics and returns ser- vice provider of the Otto Group. As an expansion of the location network, a large rug warehouse has been put into operation near Erfurt. Half of this 50,000m2 hall is dedicated to rugs, which are stored on 12m-high shelves -- up to 320,000 items at full capacity. In the other part of the hall there is space for smaller furniture items. The company‘s in-house logistics is able to process up to 10,000 orders a day.
Around 260,000 rugs, some of which are currently still stored at another location, are successively transported to Erfurt. „A logistical tour de force that will be completed by the end of March,“ says plant manager Volker Weide- mann. Parallel to the move, new goods are being deliv-
ered from the countries of origin -- mainly from Turkey, India and Pakistan. According to a press release, large quantities of smaller bath mats are stored there as well as a select few Persian rugs -- and everything in between. The company transports approximately 500,000 floor coverings per year for Otto Group trading companies.
Before the rugs are dispatched, they are subjected to a quality check. They are then transported by shuttle truck to Ohrdruf in Thuringia, 50 kilometres away, where Hermes Fulfilment has operated a modern logistics centre for 30 years. At the centre, the products are fed into the delivery network of the corporate affiliate Hermes Germany for shipping to end customers in Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands.ing
25,000 sqm of warehouse space exclusively for carpets
Quality checking before dispatch
PHOTOS: HERMES FULFILMENT
8
II / 2023