We made a visit to A101 CEO Mr Erhan Bostan as the board of directors of PLAT Association.
Association’s management told about today’s and tomorrow’s problems of the sector during the visit. An important agenda item of the meeting was the Private Label Summit, which will be held for the fourth time this year. Bostan, who has always supported the PLAT Association and has always been with the association, has promised to be on stage again at this year’s summit.
The first agenda item of the visit was the start of the A101’s sale of cigarettes, which everyone is eagerly awaiting the results. Erhan BOSTAN said that they are very pleased with the sales and consumer interest and that the products sold in 5700 branches will be spread to all branches until the Feast of Sacrifice. Bostan indicates that the process is very productive both for themselves and for the suppliers, he underlined that A101 is currently the largest cigarette sales points in Turkey.
Stating that they are currently serving with 7800 stores, Bostan stated that they will end 2018 over 8000 stores. When we asked how many branches they would reach the ideal point; he remarked there are 1 A101 per 6500 people in Thrace and we are very satisfied. He said that even if 13,000 stores across the country would be ideal, the target of this figure would be 10000 in any case.
Explaining that they have always been positive at EBITDA since the beginning of 2013. Mr Bostan said, this will continue to be the case and we will continue to add value to the country’s economy, make our consumers happy and make our suppliers smile. Mr Bostan said that they are aware of the fact that the most important problem of PL producers is price, and underlined that PL manufacturers are trying to place branded products on their shelves in order to support this situation.
Bostan stated that they are in the service of the consumer with a total of 1250 SQU products, 45% of which are PL, and said we have a line that leaves the choice to the consumer and we do not intend to change this line. Bostan stated that they quickly removed the products that the consumer did not show interest in, and underlined that they received very successful results in products such as cookies, buttermilk and toothbrush. Noting that they had attracted attention with the sale of Birkenstock slippers, Bostan said that products that would appeal to the consumer would continue to appear on posters. Expressing that they are pleased with the sale of cheap meat, Bostan said, we liked the meat business, now we have started selling valuable meat products on our shelves and we are very pleased with the consumer’s interest.