SGH na Impact 24: Adam Manikowski, wiceprezes zarządu grupy Żabka

Good morning, I greet everyone.

Yes, indeed a very important award, the Eagle of the Quarter Century. Exactly a year ago here we inaugurated the first store near Poznań, and interestingly, at that time it was a store like all others, nothing special. And over these 26 years, we have become, one could say, a synonym of convenience on the market. We have built a network that now has almost 10,400 stores. We open three stores every day, over 1,000 stores a year. And when we think of Żabka, we think of a company associated with modernity and innovation. And we managed to build a modern convenience system in our stores thanks to perfectly reading the needs of our customers, our consumers, because it is thanks to customers that we are able to grow so dynamically. Over 3 million customers come to Żabka every day, and the success lies in the fact that through the value we create, we make our customers' lives easier, in other words, we save their time. It is the value that Żabka is more than a store. You can not only shop very quickly there, but also take care of many matters in one place. We have a very wide range of financial and non-financial services, but also, for example, we have a rich gastronomic offer, so you can use many services in one place, you can shop but also buy something to eat.

Yes, people are the most important. In Żabka, we say we have two hearts: one beats for franchisees, one beats for customers. So if asked who is more important, franchisee or customer, there is no answer. The franchisee is equally important and the customer is equally important. Żabka's success is the success of franchisees, and the success of franchisees is Żabka's success. So we pay a lot of attention and invest heavily to build our franchise system to make it as accessible as possible, but also to give the franchisee as many tools as possible to run the store, one could say even intuitively, very simply and productively. Because thanks to this system, we are able to reach a very wide group of franchisees. So there are no requirements to run a Żabka store; we don't have requirements like someone must have experience in retail. Of course, an entrepreneurial person who wants to run their own business, and a person who likes the specifics of working with retail, i.e., customers, constant dynamics of change, but who also wants to build their business with our help.

Yes, we offer training. Each franchisee goes through a training system tailored in detail to their needs. We don't have a one-size-fits-all training template for every candidate. We determine the needs of each franchisee and tailor the training to them. Such a franchisee also has continuous support from our trainers after training. Additionally, over the last few years we have invested heavily in a technological revolution that allowed us to create technological tools for franchisees that support them in their daily business operations. Such tools include, for example, the Żabka assistant, which helps manage tasks in the store; an automatic ordering system - the franchisee just presses Enter and artificial intelligence helps them place the right amount of order for which there is current and future demand. We give franchisees very extensive actions through our app or the Cyber Store app, which is a phenomenon and the most modern app on the market in Poland for running a store, allowing the franchisee to manage all aspects of the store in real time, even from their phone. There are many of these tools, we are constantly working on them, improving our franchise system, and all this is done in accordance with the idea we have in our company: franchise-centricity. So that supports those two hearts - one beats for franchisees, one beats for customers. This balance and focus on these two areas is very important for Żabka's success.

Yes, we are preparing, one could say, a big revolution on the market in Poland. Because we have invested and are investing heavily in equipping stores with devices that will allow us to enter the street food market with great momentum. We are already the largest street food network in Poland. By street food, I mean hamburgers, zapiekanki, fries, nuggets, churros, panini, kebabs, and I could go on for a long time. Everything we can take hot to eat, whether going to school, going to work, or returning home, or even in the store. This will be a huge revolution because there is no other network with over 10,000 points, and in these over 10,000 points this offer will be available, and it will be available in very good quality at a very affordable price. So we say we are democratizing the street food market in Poland, and this will be the biggest change that customers will see this year. Additionally, we are constantly working on the development of our food and non-food assortment. Among other things, what we do better than the market is focus on novelties and products that can only be bought in Żabka. Our customers really appreciate this, because they come into Żabka and are often surprised by products they can't buy elsewhere. And we have a third area: services. This is a very important part of the convenience business model.

When it comes to retail business, especially the convenience business which requires great flexibility, logistics is the heart. Logistics is the heart that helps us fulfill our mission for our customers and our franchisees. We have a network of logistics centers. Recently we opened our logistics center, which can ultimately serve up to 5,000 stores. It is the most modern automated center near Warsaw, one could say a pearl in the crown of logistics, where the most modern solutions in logistics automation are used, created specifically for Żabka. They are not solutions that already exist elsewhere; they are solutions created for our business model. But to make our supply chain even more efficient, we also have so-called transshipment terminals. Some deliveries go directly from logistics centers to stores, but some go to transshipment terminals where they are delivered by smaller vehicles to, for example, city centers. So we invest a lot in logistics. Recently we completed the so-called paperless project, i.e., e-signature. We are the only company, not just a retail chain, but a company in Poland, one of the few in Europe, that introduced electronic signatures on such a scale in the supply chain, which greatly streamlined and simplified the work of our franchisees, but also, speaking of efficiency, allowed us to free up resources that we can reinvest in value for our customers and franchisees.

Yes, it is extremely important. We also know it is very important for our customers. We know that most customers choose brands that are socially responsible. We have integrated the entire ESG strategy into our business model. So we have defined goals and assumptions that are consistent with what we do long-term and what we do on a daily basis. This is related not only to encouraging customers to make choices related to healthy eating. For example, we create a 'Good for You' category for customers who want to eat healthily, buy balanced and tasty meals, but also we encourage our franchisees to participate in various local social responsibility campaigns. Of course, we invest a lot in technological solutions that reduce emissions, reduce CO2 emissions.