German hypermarket Kaufland is stepping up its Australian expansion efforts, with more sites approved in Victoria.
The retailer has just last week received approval for two further sites, bringing its total approved locations to five. They’re showing no signs of slowing down though, announcing another nine planned stores to be reviewed by an independent Advisory Panel.
Total investment in Australia is set to cost the company over half a billion dollars, and create a potential 2400 jobs. Kaufland Australia Managing Director Julia Kern said that they are eager to start growing into Australia.
“With five approved stores, as well as the additional nine sites under review, we are committed to our long term, sustainable growth across Victoria. We look forward to creating thousands of jobs and creating opportunities for local businesses,” said Kern.
The latest two approved sites are located at Oakleigh South and Coolaroo, with the further nine submitted to the Advisory Board at:
- Highton
- Braybook
- Coburg North
- South Morang
- Narre Warren
- Lyndhurst
- Pakenham
- Warrnambool
- Kennington
Kaufland has also begun construction on two test stores in Australia, one of which is located in Dandenong.
“Our Dandenong store marks a tremendous milestone in our development here in Australia, and we are very happy to break ground for our first store in Victoria,” Kern said.
“To the community and our stakeholders, we are grateful for your feedback and support, and we will continue to partner with you to create a truly customer-centric shopping experience here in Victoria.”
Kaufland is part of the German owned Schwarz Group, the fourth largest retailer in the world. Currently Kaufland has 1200 stores across seven countries and based on this European penetration, Morgan Stanley estimates that Australia could support as many as 295 Kaufland stores. However, as we reported earlier this year, finding suitable sites may make this hard, considering Kaufland’s average surface area is much larger than that of Coles or Woolworths.