Following openings of stores with a new store concept in Austria and other European core markets, the C&A fashion chain is reorganising further areas of the company. A central logistics and distribution centre in the Slovak city of Trnava will supply all branches in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Austria, from 2019.
“In 2019, we will substantially reorganise logistics, IT and product distribution in our 9 CEE countries (Austria, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). The company is developing into one of the most modern omni channel retailers in the textile industry,” said Norbert W. Scheele, Director of Country C&A Austria & CEE.
C&A currently operates two logistics and distribution centers for the 9 countries in the CEE cluster. The facilities in Enns, Upper Austria and Nové Mesto, Slovakia do not provide the required size and infrastructure for the new tasks in the CEE cluster. These conditions can not be created by the company either through structural measures at one of the two existing sites.
“It is expected that a product is available within a short time. A distribution center that is technologically and structurally in line with the 2019 standard and is located in the middle of our cluster, will enable us to fully supply all branches in the 9 CEE countries overnight. All products sold on a certain day, will be available in all sizes and specifications for our customers the next day,” said Willem Eelman, Chief Operations Transformation Officer at C&A.
The operation of the site in Enns will be maintained until the new distribution center in the Slovak city of Trnava is fully operational, which is planned for the spring of 2019. The staff there, a full-time equivalent of almost 180 jobs with 215 employees, has a job guarantee at C&A until 2019. A social plan will be established in the coming weeks and months together with all involved parties.
With 130 branches throughout Austria and 2,033 employees, C&A is one of Austria’s leading fashion retail companies. In addition to approximately 1,500 European stores, the fashion company is also present in Brazil, Mexico and China.
