Discount supermarket chain Kazyon will accelerate its expansion programme this year, according to company representatives. Although the Egyptian economy and the retail sector in particular have been facing difficult times in light of increasing inflation and interest rates, Kazyon remains positive about the short-term perspectives of the market. The retailer’s marketing head, Mr. Ismail Hafez is confident that “the market will eventually overcome the challenges”.

Mr. Hafez announced today that Kazyon plans to have a total of 280-300 outlets by the end of the year. Last month, Kazyon opened five new outlets, taking the total number of outlets to around 200, already up from 182 in December last year according to Trendtype’s retail database tracker. In order to get to 280-300 outlets by the end of the year, Kazyon would have to open, on average, just over 11 new outlets per month. This is more than what was stated by Mr. Ismail who said the retailer is capable of opening 10 new stores every month.

Kazyon, owned by Tawfeer for Food Products, is one of the leading retail chains in Egypt, just surpassed by Turkish retailer BİM in number of outlets. However, should the expansion go according to plan, Kazyon may well be the leading Egyptian retailer by number of retail outlets in a few months’ time. Although the plans are to expand fiercely, Kazyon does not intend to spread beyond the 14 governorates where it is already present at the moment.