March the 23rd, 2021 - Croatian furniture stores have seen an increase in revenue, but there are a third less of them currently in operation as their numbers have been going down since long before the pandemic struck.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, although the impression is that the number of Croatian furniture stores is constantly growing, Fina's data shows the total opposite. In the last ten years, the number of Croatian furniture stores fell by 37 percent (from 349 back in 2009 to 219 in 2019), and the number of employees in this sector decreased by 16 percent (from 3177 to 2672).

At the same time, net salaries for those working in this industry increased by an impressive 77 percent (from 3,917 kuna to 6,925 kuna), and total revenues in those ten years rose by more than 1 billion kuna or 45.5 percent, from a total of 2.33 to 3.39 billion kuna. There are three main players in the market when it comes to Croatian furniture store - Lesnina rather unsurprisingly holds the leading position, followed by the equally popular Ikea and Jysk.

These three furniture retailers operating within Croatia's borders also generate 86 percent of all revenues - Lesnina almost 1.1 billion kuna, Ikea 851 million kuna, and Jysk 562 million kuna in total.

More than 100 million in revenue is generated by Intermod from Zadar and Mima Furniture from Pula, and in the top ten in this regard are also ART Interijeri - kitchens 2000 from Split, ART Interijer Zagreb, Vokel from Imotski, Nas dom namjestaj (Our home furniture) from Vinkovci and Themelia from Zagreb. Lesnina is also the leader in terms of profit (66 million kuna back in 2019), while Jysk had a higher profit than the third on this list, being Ikea.

The results of operations in the conditions of the ongoing coronavirus crisis are yet to be announced, but in the last decade, the most difficult year of all for these retailers was 2014, which was concluded with a net loss of 111 million kuna.

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October 25, 2020 – Employees of one Croatian JYSK store were paid record bonuses this year. Namely, in one of the stores, each employee received a 32,000 kuna bonus.

As Poslovni.hr reports, on average, JYSK employees in stores across Croatia were paid an almost 10 percent higher bonus more than in the previous year, which is why they can testify that the 2019/20 financial year for JYSK was successful.

It is also the largest amount of paid bonuses in retail since JYSK has operated in Croatia, and JYSK's Country Manager, Vesna Kukić Lončarić, is especially proud of it.

"Of course I'm proud. Our employees have the opportunity to earn a bonus per the amount of turnover, and the bonus itself has no limit. Such a big bonus was paid because the last financial year was a great year for us," said the manager.

The bonus system in JYSK works in such a way that employees in each store have the opportunity to earn a bonus per the growth of turnover of each store compared to the previous year, which means that the bonuses paid are different between stores.

"It is important for JYSK to have a simple bonus system that everyone is familiar with and that is easy to understand. We believe that employees are motivated when they are rewarded for their success, especially since there is no upper limit for the amount of the bonus. At the same time, I am sure that this is another reason for the excellent customer service that we provide in stores. In the end, everyone is aware that every extra effort pays off," added Kukić Lončarić.

The highest bonuses were paid to store employees in the Westgate Shopping City Center in Zaprešić near Zagreb, and Varaždin and Čakovec.

Of particular interest is the fact that the 2019/20 financial year is specific also because all JYSK stores were completely closed for 40 days this spring and that, despite the ungrateful situation, it managed to achieve a top result.

The turnover bonus is paid based on working together regardless of the workplace, as the entire store functions as a team, and the bonus is shared among all employees in equal proportions. Considering that the achieved result is rewarded, this year the best store had the opportunity to get a bonus of over 32,000 kunas for each of the employees.

The bonus system is arranged in such a way as to reward top results and top employees, which in JYSK's case proved to be an excellent combination.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of April, 2019, this past weekend, as part of a socially responsible project, the popular JYSK retail chain held a voluntary action to plant 10,000 European beech seedlings in two zones in the Medvednica Nature Park in Sljeme, above Zagreb, which have been most adversely affected by the weather's elements over last few years.

"We got together on Sljeme so that JYSK's volunteers, together with citizens, planted 10,000 beech seedlings donated by JYSK as part of our action. We're renewing the area in two zones of the Medvednica Nature Park, which died a couple of years ago after stormy weather.

''In addition to helping financially as a company through such projects, we want to help and in a different way to keep track of nature for the next generation,'' said Vesna Kukić Lončarić for JYSK Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

The project was realised in cooperation with Croatian forests (Hrvatske šume), and the afforestation was carried out in the area around PD Risnjak within the Medvednica Nature Park. Despite the unfavourable weather conditions and even some snow, the afforestation action was supported by numerous citizens interested in the conservation of the environment who planted as many as 10,000 seedlings in the aforementioned locations. Among them was the famous Croatian singer Mirela Priselac Remi.

"We welcome JYSK's initiative and we'd like to thank them for their activities as part of their socially responsible business towards the forests. Such actions contribute to raising awareness among all citizens of the need for forest conservation and they are endangered by climate change and the irresponsible behaviour of individuals,'' she stated.

''Without the forests, there's no clean air nor is there any clean water, and such young and healthy forests as are sprouting here are our best allies in alleviating the consequences of climate change. There are multiple uses of forests, and only with responsible management can we manage to preserve them,'' said Damir Miškulin from Croatian forests.

For this project, JYSK collected funds from the sale of 50 percent of recycled plastic bags during the first three months of this year, which were donated for the purchase of seedlings for the purpose of afforestation. JYSK's objective is to raise public awareness of the importance of our forests and their development with a positive example, and continue to implement such projects throughout the year and throughout the whole of the Republic of Croatia.

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