Mirko Mrakužić (dm): We Will Continue to Invest in Prices, Sales Network, Employee Satisfaction, and Business Digitalization

Dm has justified the trust of customers in the past business year, as confirmed by independent research and the growth of all business indicators. The number of purchases exceeded 30 million, representing an 11 percent increase, while in the segment of over-the-counter medical products, we achieved a growth of nearly 50 percent compared to the previous business year.

We invested in new stores and the renovation of existing ones, expanded the network of dm stores offering OTC products, and included part of the OTC assortment in the dm online shop. We also improved the ‘My dm’ application, which is now used by over 830,000 customers, and through it, more than half of all purchases in the dm online shop were made last year. To facilitate the transition to the euro for customers, at the very beginning of last year, we invested in prices and additionally lowered the prices of over 700 products. In February of this year, we reduced the prices of all pads, tampons, and menstrual underwear of our own brand Jessa by at least 13 percent, or by the VAT rate, and from June of this year, all products of the conscious nutrition brand dmBio are on average 18 percent cheaper. Aware of the contribution that each employee makes to the success of our company, we thanked them for their contribution this January by increasing gross salaries by nine percent, and we will invest up to 1,200 euros per employee this year in subsidizing meals for employees in stores.

As every year, we used good business results to continue investing in socially responsible activities and sustainable business, which includes reducing the impact of business on the environment. We have introduced an Energy Management System according to the ISO 50001:2018 standard. This allows us to further improve energy efficiency, aiming for greater transparency in energy and resource consumption, developing additional activities and measures to increase efficiency and reduce consumption, and raising employee awareness. Sustainable business can no longer be an alternative; therefore, sustainability principles need to be integrated into all business processes.

That is why we are intensively working on the development of sustainable products of our own brand and continuously increasing the share of recyclables in packaging, and we removed microplastics from all dm brand products for body, hair, and dental care over 10 years ago. To encourage customers to make conscious purchases, in collaboration with institutions and non-governmental organizations, we developed green labels, which mark products in stores that have at least one of 15 recognized sustainable certificates, and in the dm online shop, these products are easily searchable thanks to the filter “more sustainable choice”. We will continue to invest in prices, the dm sales network, employee satisfaction, and further digitalization of business, as this way we want to better respond to the needs of customers, employees, and the community, on which we base our long-standing leading position in the Croatian drugstore market.