DIVISIONS | PERFUMERIES - Dhag-gb.com

MANAGEMENT
Thalia Holding Michael Busch
Jürg Bodenmann (until 12/31/07)
Hinrich Tode
Germany Lutz Gehrken
Jens-Peter Grüttefi en
Susanne Gruß
Tom Kirsch
Andreas Klingel
Michael Wetzel
Agnes Wieland
Switzerland Hanspeter Büchler
Pascal Schneebeli
Austria Josef Pretzl
Walter Ramsebner
buch.de Albert Hirsch
Cord H. Schmidt
The online shop www.thalia.de registered tremendous
growth during the 2006/07 fiscal year. This
underscores the powerful appeal of the Group's
multi-channel strategy and further bolsters its
existing partnership with buch.de internetstores
AG. The Thalia Group holds an interest of over
35 percent in buch.de, a leading Internet book
and media retailer in German-speaking Europe.
Sales at the 52 Thalia bookstores in Austria
and Switzerland were up by 15.0 percent to 164
million EUR during the year. In October 2006,
Thalia Austria acquired the longstanding Wagnersche
bookstore in Innsbruck and opened three
additional locations in the country during the
following 12 months. In the Swiss canton of
Aargau, Meissner Bücher AG and its three bookshops
were acquired in March 2007. Additionally,
Thalia itself opened a second major bookstore in
the city of Aarau during April 2007.
In May 2007, the fixed book-pricing system was
abolished in Switzerland. In its price marketing,
Thalia will continue to apply the publishers' recommended
prices. Simultaneously, it has joined
other market players and industry institutions
Friendly and professional – the Thalia team from Graz with store manager
Annemarie Radl (eighth from left)
in lobbying for the system's reinstatement – with
the aim of having price maintenance anchored
in legislation, as is already the case in Germany
and Austria. In the meantime, Thalia will be persisting
with its tried-and-trusted strategy and continuing
to focus on those traditional virtues that
have earned its success in the past: outstanding
service, first-class product ranges and a stimulating
and emotional shopping experience.
During the 2007/08 financial year, the company
will be sustaining its earnings-oriented expansion
strategy. A total of 17 new stores are due
to open their doors in Germany, Austria and
Switzer land. The first of these – the new store in
Kassel – was swiftly followed by new venues in
Cloppenburg and Kehl. As in the past, acquisitions
of local and regional book retailers are seen as
offering promising potential for growth – provided
they fit the Thalia Group profile.
In the area of merchandising, the German
translation of the seventh Harry Potter novel in
October 2007 brought the expected sales bonanza,
although more and more copies are sold via
channels other than retail booksellers.