Czech Bioobchod.cz celebrates tenth anniversary

The Czech organic vegetarian pioneer Bioobchod.cz s.r.o. opened its first shop in 2002 in Jaromer and on Tuesday 10 January 2012 it celebrated its tenth anniversary. The first shop of this independent Czech mini-chain was opened by Mrs Jana Sikstova and Mr Rostislav Siksta in Jaromer in the east of Bohemia. Mr Siksta, vegetarian from when he was 15 and vegan from 17, had experience of work in non-governmental organisations that focused on organic agriculture and environmental issues, and of voluntary work in eco-vegan mail-order distribution. When he was 23 and his wife 21, having decided to bring organic and vegetarian products to the region, they opened their first shop under name Dobry kramek (good shop). (Picture: Jana Sikstova and Mr Rostislav Siksta)The name made customers aware of their involvement in good quality products, ranging from vegan food to high-quality organic products that included cosmetics and ecological cleaning products. A webshop was also established as the first internet shop selling organic and natural products in the Czech Republic. In 2004, they took over a new shop in Dvur Kralove together with their first employee, who is still working for the company today. In 2006, webdomain bioobchod.cz and the company Bioobchod.cz s.r.o. (meaning "Organic Market" in the Czech language) was registered and their activities were united under this company name.

In 2007, two more shops were added - the company´s flagship store in Trutnov (picture) near the Giant Mountains, with about 85 m², and a new shop in the Hradec Kralove district of the capital. Import and wholesale distribution was also started in 2007, with the first brand labels Bonvita, a Dutch rice milk chocolate producer, and the German natural cosmetics producer Eco Cosmetics. The webshop was growing continuously and the company attended various fairs where they presented new products they were importing in the Czech Republic. At this point, Mr. Siksta felt they needed a new flagship store in the country´s capital Prague that would be a showroom for the products imported by Bioobchod.cz.

After a long search, a shop was opened in Prague in December 2009, in the central district at 71 Belehradska street (picture), located near the Bruselska tram stop and close to the busiest tube station in Prague. Customers soon began visiting the shop and the assortment of products has been improved all the time, with new brand labels being imported. Apart from its function as a showroom for the company, the store sells a range of products available on the Czech market, e.g. environmental products, chilled milk and non-dairy products, organic sweets and bars, a wide selection of herbal teas, ecological cleaning products and a huge range of natural cosmetics. In the store (ca. 75 m²), Bioobchod.cz offers not only products imported by the company itself but also products supplied by the Czech wholesalers Country Life, Pro-Bio, Bionebio and others. However, the company´s own imports of goods remain very important. This flagship store stocks an amazing 4,000 items in such a small space, but they are planning either to extend the shop with a new section and take-away or to find new, bigger premises.

In February 2011, they added a new shop in Prague that was taken over from its former owner. It is the only vegan shop in the Czech Republic and is located near the Haje tube station. The new owners are continuing the vegan policy by concentrating on gluten-free and lactose-free diets and offering advice and help to customers. This latest shop has only about 40 m² but stocks about 2,500 products, mostly organic or, at least, natural. (Picture: wide section of cosmetic products in shop Belehradska, Prague)

All the shops in the Czech Republic are faced with the demand for low prices, as the buying power in the Czech Republic is still low (about 33 % of German buying power) and the number of customers is still limited. In spite of fact that the conventional supermarkets are now the main outlets for organic products, similar to the developments in Switzerland reported in an earlier article by Organic-Market.Info, Bioobchod.cz is trying to do all it can to combat this negative trend. About 40 independent shops closed in 2011 and the turnover of surviving shops has been reduced. But since it is one of the biggest independent players in the market, Bioobchod.cz is still going ahead with all its shops, although it is making massive changes in assortment and strategy on account of best-selling products being “stolen" by the supermarkets and the low prices demanded by customers. The low buying power and the atmosphere in Czech society has been caused by the economic crises and unpopular governmental action such as increasing VAT on food to 14% (7 % in Germany), a level the government is planning to increase again in July 2012 to 19% or 20%. This is a move that harms all the organic players, and customers who used to buy organic products are returning to conventional products or buying cheaper organic products in supermarket chains. Examples are Alverde and Alnatura products in dm-drugstores. Because of customers’ strong awareness of price, some shops didn’t survive this pressure and closed down, and some went bankrupt, such as the well-known Albio shops or Biosoma.
(Picture above: magazines Bio&Natur being printed quarterly by a partner company and given out for free in shops and sent to partner shops and customers. It´s the only one colourful magazine in Czech which is also for free, in 40,000 copies and downloadable from archive at bionatur.cz)

The Czech Republic has only 10 million inhabitants, but you find the majority of the European brands here and cheaper local producers as well. Under extreme pressure, and having to be more competitive than in the German market, only the strong can survive, and Bioobchod.cz is now stronger than ever. Plans for this year are to open a branch in Bratislava in Slovakia, to cover the "sister" Slovakian market, to open a new shop in Brno or in Prague, and to invest in wholesale and distribution. Repairs to a new company warehouse and head office in Dvur Kralove are being started and one warehouse should move to new premises of 500 m² in the middle of this year. As the majority of independent Czech shops are very small, mostly with only 20-50 m², and are economically unstable, Bioobchod.cz is focusing on its own shops and webshop, which is still among the biggest in the Czech Republic despite the fact that dozens of other webshops are now operating. The majority of the suppliers have also recently opened a webshop, because the Czech Republic is small and everyone is looking for a bigger turnover in a small territory. (Pictures: company´s presentation at Biostyl fair, 2010)

Brand labels imported by Bioobchod.cz to the Czech Republic (and potentially by Slovakia as well) are at the moment Naturata, Dennree, Pural, Oskri, Sheese, Soyatoo/Viana, YogiTea and some others; in natural cosmetics, Farfalla, Eubiona, Agno, Biodent, Biokosma, Eco Cosmetics and Speick have been distributed and they are planning to produce an assortment of products under private label (and have wider assortment of distributed brand labels). Bioobchod.cz took over the distribution of the ecological cleaning products Sonett from a distributor who went bankrupt and they are planning to import an assortment of products and brand labels. As Mr. Siksta says, he doesn´t compete with anyone else, so the company is focused on high quality products, even when it is hard to succeed with them in the difficult economic climate that is being experienced by the Czech Republic and its inhabitants. Specialisation in vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free and other products is vital and, together with advising on health and strong, flexible marketing, is more useful than ever before.

Tip: http://www.bioobchod.cz/

Year	Address	Retail space m²
2002	Jaromer	40
2004	Dvur Kralove	45
2007	Hradec Kralove	55
2007	Trutnov	80
2009	Praha 2 – Belehradska	80
2011	Praha 4 – metro Haje	40