Portuguese Sonae marks entry with Zippy store

24 Aug '11

2 min read

Sonae strengthens its international presence with the entry of its specialised retail area in Kazakhstan. The expansion into this new market is realized with the opening of Zippy's first store in the capital, Astana.

After entering the Egyptian and Turkish market, opening in this new geography contributes to the fast international growth. Sonae continues to enhance clearly distinctive formats, which show increasingly higher acceptance by consumers and represent a clear competitive advantage against competitors already installed. And Zippy is an example of this - is a format that combines price with quality and design.

Miguel Seixas, Sonae SR administrator, says that "this is another step in the approach to new markets where our formats are emergin by differentiation and where we plan to proceed with a good pace of openings."

The percentage of international sales of Zippy brand exceeded 50% during the month of June, becoming the 4th Sonae's business to reach more than half of the revenue abroad.

The new Zippy store is located in the capital, Astana, and has approximately 450 m2 of sales area. Sonae SR's entry in Kazakhstan is carried out through franchising, through its partnership with Fawaz Alhokair Group, following the strategy of diversification of investment styles. The capital of Kazakhstan, where the new store opens, is an emerging market in Central Asia, with about 700 000 inhabitants.

Zippy is now present in six countries and has a total of 92 stores, of which 44 in Spain, 40 in Portugal, five in Saudi Arabia, one in Egypt, one in Turkey and one in Kazakhstan.

Sonae