Home / Business and Politics / [500 Best] Zoran Mitreski (Fortenova): We Strive to Meet Our Customers’ Needs

[500 Best] Zoran Mitreski (Fortenova): We Strive to Meet Our Customers’ Needs

For Croatian entrepreneurs, this is the best year in history, but they are facing new challenges such as stagnation in the Eurozone and Germany entering recession… Leaders of the largest companies claim that this does not affect revenue and has not delayed investment in new technologies, especially in artificial intelligence and environmental protection. What is happening at Fortenova was explained by Zoran Mitreski, CEO of Fortenova Group for Retail and President of the Management Board of Konzum.

– Despite the global challenges that have been following us for some time, the retail sector of Fortenova Group, including Konzum as the largest company in the Group, has successfully adapted its operations. Quality planning and investment in the stability of the company have ensured greater resilience to market changes, and our efforts brought us an increase in total retail revenue in 2022, with Konzum’s revenue rising by 13.7 percent compared to 2021. Inflation affects not only business but also the purchasing power of citizens, so we continuously strive to meet our customers’ needs through various initiatives and price reductions wherever possible. At the same time, we are investing in the modernization and expansion of our retail network and optimizing existing stores. This year, Fortenova Group also realized its first foreign acquisition in retail by acquiring the Franca chain in Montenegro.

The success of all companies in our retail sector is carried by our employees, which is why we continuously invest in increasing their material rights. This year alone, we have invested more than 17 million euros in people at Konzum. In addition to investing in people, we are also investing in projects aimed at efficiency: not only Konzum but the entire Fortenova Group is continuously working on the digitalization of business, which allows us to remain leaders in the field of innovation in retail.

A few weeks ago, we received two awards – the Retail Industry Customer Award and the Talent Transformation Award – for achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem in the successful application of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence in Konzum, Mercator Slovenia, and Mercator Serbia, in global competition. In a very short time, a team of experts from across the Group gathered at Fortenova Group DataLab created models for optimizing product assortments and promotional strategies, as well as improving the ability to forecast demand for fresh products, the latter of which was implemented precisely in Konzum and facilitates decision-making in daily operations. In 2023, our priorities remain the same – leading developmental breakthroughs, careful customer relations, and investment in people and sustainable business, he emphasized.

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