Is Arcandor the name on the stock market?
Arcandor is also the market name for the financial holding company. I admit we chose to have an “A” at the beginning so that we are among the first on the ticker. Also, Arcandor is easily pronounceable for English speakers. After World War II the United States was THE destination for German retailers seeking new ideas. The retail sector in America was years ahead of Germany’s. Is that still true? Can the German retail sector still learn from the Americans? For stationary retail, I can only give a conditional answer because we are not active in stationary concepts in America. In any case, we keep our eyes open both in America and in the UK to spot new concepts early. The trendier the offer, the more we can learn in big cities like New York or London. On the other hand there are definitely some distribution formats in which German retail has caught up, such as e-commerce and, of course, cash-and-carry. In terms of concepts having to do with e-commerce or specialized mail order, European
