From Franchise to JYSK Nordic: “We found a perfect match”

Country Manager for Romania and Bulgaria, Alexandru Bratu, is in no doubt: JYSK Nordic and the two former franchise countries are a perfect match. The customers are crazy about JYSK, more stores are shooting up, and new JYSK records are being set.

By Laura Sulbæk, Communications & CSR Coordinator, lsu@JYSK.com

JYSK’s Scandinavian roots make a deep impression despite national borders. For Romania and Bulgaria, the JYSK spirit and business model have been incorporated into the organisation since the countries moved from being franchises to a part of JYSK Nordic in April 2013.

It’s easy to see from the walls in the head office in Bucharest: Next to Romanian and Bulgarian towns, the walls of the office also bear the mark of Danish cities.  

GO JYSK headed out to Bucharest to talk to Country Manager Alexandru Bratu about the switch from franchise country to being a part of JYSK Nordic and concentrating efforts on sales and expansion.

“When we look back, we can safely say that it was the best thing that could have happened to the organisation. Looking over at our neighbouring countries, we could feel that there was great potential for expansion. We could also see that the market was moving in the right direction,” says Alexandru, who has worked at JYSK since 2010.

GREATER FOCUS ON PLANNING

The necessary support and resources to start the expansion in Romania and Bulgaria were provided to the organisation from JYSK Nordic, but according to the Country Manager, they achieved much more than that: included in the package was a wholly new, Scandinavian business culture, which is very different from the traditional way of running things in the Southeastern part of Europe.

“At the start we didn’t really know what to expect. But we quickly discovered that there is great synergy between my own and my colleagues’ personality and Scandinavian culture. We found a perfect match,” asserts Alexandru. 

He appreciates the JYSK spirit of being very direct and honest, as well as the flat structure of the organisation.

The biggest difference in being part of a Scandinavian company, according to Alexandru, is a healthy balance between centralised decisions and local initiatives, which are adapted to the different countries - as well as a far greater focus on planning. 

“Everything is carefully planned beforehand. When I was first called in for a meeting eight months into the future, I thought it was a joke. But it didn’t take long before I began to see the advantages of it and became almost uncomfortable if our meetings were not planned well in advance, for fear of missing them,” recounts Alexandru.

NORDIC LAYOUT GIVES A CLEAR IDENTITY

According to Alexandru, this is the underlying reason for the great success, which Romania and Bulgaria are currently experiencing with sales and expansion. When the countries were taken over by JYSK Nordic, there were 14 stores in Romania and three in Bulgaria. As of 1 August 2016, the figures tell a quite different story. In approximately three years, the number of stores in Romania has now grown to 36, while there are now nine in Bulgaria.

“There are many circumstances and reasons that have led to the success and progress we are experiencing. We became a part of JYSK Nordic, when the momentum was right both on the market and in JYSK,” explains Alexandru. 

Besides the right momentum, the Scandinavian layout of the stores, which Romania and Bulgaria have adopted from JYSK Nordic, is also part of the reason, according to the Country Manager. This gave the JYSK stores a clear identity and immediately appealed to the Romanian and Bulgarian customers, who reacted extremely positively to the change in store layout and product range.

Among those who have noticed this is Sales Leader Razvan Vergn, who works in JYSK’s second store in Romania’s capital Bucharest, which opened in April 2014.

“The stores are becoming more and more popular, because the customers are becoming aware of our products at great prices and decent quality. Many come by when they need something new for their home. They think it is easy to find things in the store, and that we have a large selection,” says Razvan, who has been working at the store since February.

BENEFIT FROM THE EXPERIENCE 

Alexandru and his colleagues in Romania and Bulgaria are also enjoying the benefits of many years of experience from the organisation in JYSK Nordic, which has also been vital to the success of the expansion and sales in the two East European JYSK countries.

“We were lucky to become a part of JYSK Nordic after 35 years and to be able to take advantage of all that experience. When I meet with the other Country Managers, it feels like I am getting all their best practice given to me, because they have experienced many of the things themselves that we are experiencing now in Romania and Bulgaria,” says Alexandru. 

In addition, the attachment to JYSK Nordic opens the doors for many career opportunities for the JYSK colleagues in Romania and Bulgaria. This means a lot for the organisation in the two countries, according to the Country Manager. 

“When Nordic took over, it created a lot of opportunities to grow and develop career-wise for all the employees, and we are still growing and are still a long way off the goal, both in terms of our employees and the entire organisation,” explains Alexandru.

Looking towards the future, the organisation’s plans are even more ambitious in terms of expansion in the two countries. The plan is to open 15 new stores in Romania as well as six in Bulgaria, while the long-term goal is to reach a target of 100 stores in Romania and 35 in Bulgaria by 2020.