Dirk Rossmann GmbH

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Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 22.5 ″  N , 9 ° 49 ′ 52 ″  E

Dirk Rossmann GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 1972
Seat Burgwedel , Germany
management
  • Peter Dreher
  • Michael Rybak
Number of employees 56,000 (2018)
sales 9.46 billion euros (2018)
Branch Drugstores
Website www.rossmann.de

The Rossmann , commonly known as Rossmann called, is the second largest drugstore chain in Germany with headquarters in Lower Saxony Burgwedel in Hannover . In Germany, the drugstore chain founded by Dirk Roßmann in 1972 has 2196 stores with 33,400 employees. There are a total of 4088 Rossmann branches with 56,200 employees. There are further Rossmann branches in Albania , Kosovo , Poland , Spain , the Czech Republic , Hungary and Turkey .

history

The beginning: 1970s

First Rossmann drugstore in Hanover near Lister Platz; Opening on March 17, 1972; meanwhile closed

The trained chemist Dirk Roßmann opened at the age of 25 on March 17, 1972 in Hanover under the name Markt für Drogeriewaren his first drugstore with 200 m² sales area. It was located on Jakobistraße, a side street off Lister Meile, directly on Lister Platz, and was the first self-service drugstore in Germany. It was closed in the summer of 2010 because there was no longer enough sales space for the Rossmann range.

The occasion of the first business foundation in 1972 was the realization Rossmann that a counter sale of drugstore goods was no longer appropriate, as well as the impending abolition of fixed prices for drugstore products 1973. "I knew now something is happening on the market." Ten years later he had already 100 Drugstores in Northern Germany and has since been considered a "pioneer of the drugstore".

The expansion: 1990s

The German reunification of 1990 brought the company enormous economic success. The first Rossmann sales point in the new federal states was opened on July 2, 1990 in Sondershausen , Thuringia . In the same year more than 100 branches were opened in the new federal states . In addition to the area-wide expansion within Germany, the development of the Eastern European market began.

Current situation

There are currently 2196 branches in Germany and 4088 stores across Europe (as of January 2020). The 2000th branch and at the same time largest in Europe was opened in March 2016 in the Dragon Slayer House in Hanover.

There are branches in Poland (1,304), Hungary (215), Turkey (112), Albania (13), Kosovo (1) and the Czech Republic (135). Abroad, 3 billion euros were turned over in 2019 (total turnover 10 billion euros / 2020). In the summer of 2009, the first Rossmann stores were opened in Albania together with the footballer Altin Lala . In July 2010 Rossmann opened the first Turkish branch in Ankara . Rossmann has also been represented in the Republic of Kosovo since 2018.

A total of 33 branches in train stations, 20 of them after you took over Ihr Platz and their IhrPlatz-Express stores, have been operated as Rossmann-Express since September 2012 and, in addition to the usual drugstore items, also sell delicatessen and frozen food and other items for travel needs.

Market strategy

Rossmann exterior view of downtown location
Rossmann interior view of a shop

The company's goal is rapid but controlled expansion in Germany and neighboring countries to the east. The individual markets are presented inside and outside in the colors white and red. Since the end of 2014, a new shop image has been in use with new colors and forms of product presentation. The individual drugstores have an average sales area of ​​over 570 m². Branches with over 1300 m² were opened in the major cities of Berlin and Leipzig. Germany's and also Europe's largest branch with 1385 m² is located at Georgstrasse 10 (see Drachentöterhaus) in Hanover.

The company has been active in the mail order business via the Internet since 1999 and was the first in the industry to open an “Internet drugstore”, which today has the full range of drugstores on offer. In 2016, the mail order business (rossmannversand.de) was merged with the company's main page in one platform. Rossmann was awarded the Axia Best Managed Companies Award in 2019. In January 2020, brack.ch added around 500 Rossmann own brands to its range.

Acquisitions

Effective May 2, 2000, Rossmann took over 90 Idea stores in Northern Germany from the REWE Group. In August 2003 , the takeover of 400 KD (Kaiser's Drugstore) drugstore branches of the Tengelmann Group followed, financed from the cash flow . The takeover was completed on May 1, 2005. All KD branches were converted to the Rossmann range with the support of the Tengelmann Group. This means that Rossmann is represented nationwide for the first time, and sales jumped to over 2 billion euros. The number of employees grew to over 10,000, including 2,500 former employees of KD.

In 2008 Rossmann took over the North German retail chain Kloppenburg . Of the 160 branches, 30 larger ones were immediately converted to Rossmann. The other Kloppenburg branches operated under the Kloppenburg brand until the end of March 2013, after which this brand was discontinued.

The drugstore chain Rossmann took over around 104 stores of the insolvent competitor Ihr Platz in 2012.

Ownership

Dirk Rossmann

Dirk Roßmann holds 60 percent of the shares in the company. His total assets, which are tied up in the company, are estimated at around 4.1 billion euros. The Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing has a 40 percent stake in his Hong Kong group Hutchison Whampoa through his retail subsidiary AS Watson , following the takeover of the Dutch drugstore chain Kruidvat, which is part of Rossmann . Since spring 2014, the Singaporean state-owned Temasek Holdings has held a 24.95% stake in AS Watson and thus indirectly in Rossmann.

Product management

Rossmann lettering with centaur

Logo of "Rossfrau" on the occasion of International Women's Day 2018

The company logo is a red lettering with the company name "Rossmann". A centaur is symbolically depicted in the letter O. This mythical creature, derived from the Latinized Centaurus, is a horse man and symbolizes the name of the founder and owner Dirk Roßmann.

On the occasion of International Women's Day 2018, Rossmann used a logo with a female centaur and the words "ROSSFRAU" in his online shop, on social media and at his largest branch in Hanover. The campaign has been criticized by some as being clichéd.

Products

The Rossmann drugstore range of the largest sales outlets comprises 21,400 items. The range of products varies - depending on the size of the sales area and the location of the store. In addition to the drugstore assortment with a focus on skin, body, hair, baby and health, Rossmann carries selected promotional items from the "World of Ideas", pet food, the photo service and an extensive range of natural foods and wines. Around 200 well-known brands with 1000 different references are listed in the perfume range.

  • Natural cosmetics. All products of the Alterra own brand comply with the guidelines of the BDIH (Federal Association of German Industrial and Trading Companies for Drugs, Health Food, Dietary Supplements and Personal Care Products) and bear the Natrue seal.
  • Organic food . Under the own brand enerBiO , foods with organic certification are sold, which are certified according to the European organic regulation (" organic seal "). Rossmann announced in February 2019 that enerBiO products will in future bear the Naturland seal. The range includes around 400 products including some organic brands such as Tartex , Little Lunch and Veganz , but not all of them are available in all markets. Numerous articles come from the Lüneburg Heath . Since February 2019, parts of the enerBiO range have been sold by Denner in Switzerland .
  • Wine . Rossmann has had an extensive range of wines since 2000, which has been featured in Cordula Eich's wine guide Superschoppen-Shopper since 2011 . Every year Cordula Eich tastes supermarket wines. In the last buying guide from 2016 there are 96 wines, 19 of which were given top marks.
  • Photo service . All branches are equipped with photo printers that can be used to print files as photos from all common storage media and via Bluetooth (cell phones). It is cheaper to transfer the data to the photo stations and then collect the photos after 2–3 working days. You can also order photos, photo books and photo gifts on the Internet. In addition, photographic films can be dispensed and developed.
  • Own brands . Today Rossmann has 29 own brands with 4600 products. In 1997 the first own brands "Babydream", "Facelle", "Sunozon" and "Winston" were introduced. The best-known Rossmann brands are “Isana” (skin, hair and body care), “domol” (cleaning and laundry detergents) and “alouette” (paper tissues, household rolls and toilet paper). In the past 20 years there have been more than 550 “very good” and “good” ratings from Öko-Test and Stiftung Warentest .

Customer magazine "Centaur"

Rossmann customer magazine Centaur

Since the company's 30th birthday in March 2002, the company has been publishing the customer magazine Centaur (based on the centaur depiction on the company logo). The booklet with over 100 pages is distributed to customers free of charge via the branches. It appears ten times a year and has a circulation of over 900,000 copies (as of 2019). The customer magazine has had a new design since January 2018. The four columns “live”, “love”, “be amazed” and “do” determine the focus of the articles. The permanent authors of the magazine include, for example, the long-time director of the Criminological Research Institute Lower Saxony (KFN for short), Christian Pfeiffer , and the director of the Institute for Geobotany at the University of Hanover, Richard Pott .

Administration and logistics

Rossmann high-bay warehouse in Burgwedel

The company headquarters with around 1,800 employees has been located in Burgwedel directly on the A 7 since 1992 . In 2003, a high-bay warehouse was put into operation in the attached distribution center , which is 30 meters high, 127 meters long and 15 meters wide. It offers space for 13,000 Euro pallets on 20 levels . After four extensions to the new central building from 2000 to 2007, which increased the usable area of ​​the building to around 40,000 m² of storage space and 8,000 m² of office space, the decision was made in 2009 for a completely new administration building. The new building was planned with 5000 m² of office space for 450 workplaces and 520 m² for conference and meeting rooms and moved into at the beginning of 2011.

The functions of the logistics center have been taken over by the logistics center in Landsberg in Saxony-Anhalt since 2007 . It went into operation in August 2002 and was expanded from 2005 to 2007 to a total of 68,000 m² of total storage space. 50 million euros were invested in the new logistics center. According to the company, this was the largest construction investment in the company's history to date and at the same time the second largest warehouse logistics investment in Saxony-Anhalt. In 2013 the total storage area was increased to around 100,000 m².

There are further regional distribution centers in Bergkirchen near Munich (20,000 m²), Bürstadt, Kiel, Cologne, Malsfeld and Wustermark.

competition

The drugstore industry has been characterized by a strong process of concentration since the turn of the millennium. From the former 10 drugstore companies there are now only dm , Müller and Budnikowsky in Hamburg besides Rossmann . Nevertheless, one cannot speak of a monopoly, because the drugstores only cover about a third of the drugstore goods channel in Germany. Rossmann grew through systematic expansion and acquisitions. For over 10 years, 120 to 150 new sales outlets have been opened nationwide every year. At the same time, 50 to 70 markets that have become too small and therefore unprofitable are closed every year. Until the reunification, the competitors dm and Rossmann avoided each other geographically. dm expanded in the south and west, Rossmann in the north. That changed with the expansion into the new federal states. Here the competitors met each other directly for the first time. Since taking over kd from 2003 to 2005, Rossmann has also had a strong presence in the south and west. In return, dm began an accelerated expansion in the north, which recently especially Budnikowsky in Hamburg got into trouble.

Social Commitment

According to its own information, Rossmann participates in numerous social projects, institutions, associations, clubs and foundations. Partners in a long-term corporate commitment are the World Population Foundation , the German Children's Fund , the Mentor - Die Leselernhelfer project and the Singen e. V. with the project Klasse! We sing . Rossmann also supports the information campaign “School start with the Blue Angel ” and the “Naturkinder” initiative.

education

Since 1980, Rossmann has had its own seminar center, the “Waldhof” in the Lüneburg Heath, for training and continuing education of employees. It is used intensively as a meeting place across all areas of the company. Individual support programs such as annual groups (group work and self-discovery in the company's own training center Hützel), an extensive range of seminars for professional training or cultural trips for employees to the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm are just a few of the company's offers for personal development. Rossmann currently employs around 1,600 trainees. More than 80 percent of the trainees are taken on after their training. Rossmann was ranked 41st among the 100 most popular training companies in Germany in the 2018 Student Barometer.

criticism

racism

Rossmann came under criticism several times for racism. In June 2017, a customer was discriminated against in a branch in Berlin. When another customer confronted Rossmann with this on Facebook, Rossmann's social media team reacted with racist stereotypes. In 2020, Rossmann published an advertisement for a shampoo that was also criticized as racist. On June 11, 2020, a customer in a branch in Berlin was racially insulted by a cashier and the branch manager, claiming that she had forged identification papers and wanted to cheat on the grounds that she could not have a German-sounding name because of her appearance.

Wage usury

Rossmann uses employees with work contracts from the subcontractor “Instore Solution Services GmbH” to fill the shelves in every second branch . In addition, Rossmann employs low-wage workers from the company “Instore Solutions Personell GmbH” and its Polish branch “Invent” or “ISS Polska” as temporary workers . Rossmann has a 49 percent stake in Instore Solution Services GmbH and 22.5 percent in Instore Solutions Personell GmbH through his “Rossmann Beteiligungs GmbH”. The Ver.di union speaks of wage usury . The company countered the union's criticism of the use of work contracts by stating that 93 percent of all hours worked at Rossmann are done by its own employees and not by subcontractors. Ultimately, a retail company needs service providers for special tasks and to be able to react flexibly to specific work requirements.

Competition violations (cartel formation)

The Federal Cartel Office imposed a fine of 5 million euros on Rossmann for illegal price agreements with the Melitta coffee roaster . In response to the company's lawsuit, the antitrust panel at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court increased the fine to 30 million euros in February 2018. In response to the appeal , the Federal Court of Justice overturned the judgment in August 2019 because of a formal error (failure to set the deadline for the judgment ) and referred the proceedings back to another cartel panel of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.

Temporary shutdown of PayPal

In September 2011, the collaboration with PayPal was discontinued and products at Rossmann online could no longer be paid for. PayPal justified this with the US government's Cuba embargo. According to this justification, the sale of Cuban products is a violation of US law and thus also of PayPal's terms and conditions. On August 1st, Rossmann received an "aggressive" tip from PayPal. In particular, Cuban cigars and rum were criticized in the online offer and the removal of the products within three days was requested, otherwise the cooperation would be terminated. The management then decided on August 3, 2011 to remove PayPal as a payment option, and customers were immediately informed about the process online. PayPal payments have been possible again in the Rossmann online shop since 2014.

Web links

Commons : Rossmann (company)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Imprint. In: rossmann.de. Dirk Rossmann GmbH, accessed on April 8, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Business figures . In: rossmann.de. Dirk Rossmann GmbH, January 3, 2018, accessed on August 31, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Business development in 2018 and outlook for 2019 (PDF; 1.4 MB) Annual press conference. In: rossmann.de. Dirk Rossmann GmbH, April 4, 2019, accessed on July 14, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Rossmann Business Development 2019. In: rossmann.de. Dirk Rossmann GmbH, January 3, 2018, accessed on May 31, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Rossmann drugstores - The Lord of Small Prices. In: bild.de. December 16, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2009 .
  6. ↑ Rossmann opens first branch in Spain. In: Lebensmittel Zeitung . Retrieved August 11, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Heads: Dirk Roßmann. In: Wirtschaftswoche . April 6, 2014, accessed November 25, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Rossmann drugstores - The Lord of Small Prices. In: sueddeutsche.de . April 5, 2006, accessed July 5, 2011 .
  9. ↑ Business development in 2016
  10. ↑ The drugstore concept for train stations is called "Rossmann-Express". (No longer available online.) Rossmann, August 27, 2012, archived from the original on September 18, 2013 ; accessed on April 8, 2017 (press release).
  11. ↑ Largest branch in Europe opened in Hanover
  12. ↑ ROSSMANN company brochure 2017. DIRK ROSSMANN GmbH Public Relations, accessed on August 14, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Content meets commerce . In: ROSSMANN company . ( rossmann.de [accessed on August 13, 2018]).
  14. ↑ Award 2020 - REVIEW - Axia Best Managed Companies. Retrieved November 26, 2019 (German).
  15. ↑ Marcel Speiser: Rossmann is expanding in Switzerland - through the back door. In: handelszeitung.ch . January 14, 2020, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Rossmann takes over Idea-Markt. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . March 22, 2000, accessed November 26, 2019 .
  17. ^ "Rossmann swallows Kloppenburg" , Die Welt , November 29, 2007.
  18. ↑ Press release "Cartel Office Agrees". (No longer available online.) Rossmann, July 25, 2012, archived from the original on September 10, 2012 ; Retrieved April 8, 2017 .
  19. ↑ Rossmann becomes RossFRAU: drugstore is renaming itself - that's behind it. In: derwesten.de. March 7, 2018, accessed March 8, 2018 .
  20. ↑ "Women only really get going in the evening". In: WORLD. March 8, 2018, accessed March 8, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Denner is selling organic food again. In: blick.ch . February 9, 2019, accessed February 13, 2019 .
  22. ^ Dirk Rossmann GmbH (ed.): Centaur: Magazin. One for all! No. 1 , 2002, DNB  985513241 , ZDB -ID 2385161-2 .
  23. ↑ logistics. In: rossmann.de .
  24. ↑ drugstores between supply gaps and location densification. (No longer available online.) IPH, 2014, archived from the original on October 12, 2014 ; Retrieved April 8, 2017 .
  25. ↑ Bob Geisler: Budni is taking the right risk. Hamburger Abendblatt , January 31, 2014, accessed April 8, 2017 .
  26. ↑ Top 100 employers | Student. In: berufgeber-ranking.de. Retrieved November 26, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Unsuccessful crisis management: Racist cashier? Rossmann's reaction makes things worse. In: The world . June 24, 2017, accessed June 11, 2020 .
  28. ^ Berlin: Racist insult at Rossmann - Afro-Germans threatened by police officers. In: rnd.de. Retrieved June 11, 2020 .
  29. ^ The new temporary work. In: The time . August 29, 2011.
  30. ↑ "Wage Usury": The hidden side of the Rossmann empire. In: Handelsblatt . February 15, 2012.
  31. ^ Competitor Dirk Roßmann. "Anton Schlecker had more than thirty years of success". In: Handelsblatt . June 2, 2012.
  32. ^ Christian Wölbert: Cartel proceedings: Rossmann sentenced to 30 million euros fine. In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung . February 28, 2018.
  33. ↑ BGH lifts the million dollar fine against Rossmann for price fixing. In: Handelsblatt .
  34. ↑ "Let's not blackmail us": Rossmann throws PayPal out . In: heise.de , September 9, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2011. 
  35. ↑ Website about payment options from Rossmannversand.de. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 27, 2014 ; accessed on September 14, 2014 .