Tchibo completes second part of construction in Cheb and opens its largest distribution centre in Central and Eastern Europe

The investment totalling CZK 1.6 bn is one of the largest in the region and represents a significant impulse for the development of the Karlovy Vary region, which the government has designated a structurally-affected area. One of the most important global coffee producers and the leader in Czech online sales in the clothing category has enabled the creation of 348 new jobs, thanks to its activities in Cheb. Geis company, which handles the operation of the whole distribution centre for Tchibo, has currently placed these employees in a six-day, two-shift system. The distribution centre was built by the developer Panattoni Europe in co-operation with the Accolade group, which specialises in investments in industrial properties.

“The best news for the Czech customers is the significant shortening of delivery times. While from Bremen goods reached them in 4-6 days, from Cheb it will arrive in 1-3 days. The Cheb distribution centre currently supplies not only the Czech market, but also the Slovak, Polish, Hungarian, Austrian, Swiss and South German markets. On average we now send 25,000 consignments a day,” said Tchibo Praha’s General Manager Richard Hodul. 

“I really appreciate that a leading retail chain chose to build its large distribution centre in Cheb, which has extraordinarily good transport links to Germany. The completion of construction for Tchibo brings several superlatives. After the completion of the second phase, the building becomes the second largest logistics hall in the Czech Republic and Cheb industrial zone is well on it’s way to become the largest industrial park in Central Europe,” said Pavel Sovička, Chief Executive Officer of Panattoni Europe for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

“The construction of the building in which the distribution centre is based was financed by the Accolade group. Tchibo is currently renting it from us. The building itself is worth CZK 1 bn,” said Milan Kratina, CEO of the Accolade group. “This building alone represents a quarter of all new rentable space for light industry and logistics that was built in the Czech Republic in this half-year,” added Kratina.

“In the next few months we will be hiring additional employees, primarily as operators. The distribution centre in Cheb is one of the most modern storage spaces, but, maybe surprisingly, it is rather than automation or robotization based on classic manual work. The flow of goods is set up so that each item is double- or triple-checked, which leads to a lower error rate and higher flexibility when tuning the whole distribution centre’s capacity,” said Dr. Johannes Söllner, Managing Director from Geis. 

The new distribution centre of Tchibo in Cheb specialises in B2C online business. Inside there is storage, sorting, preparation, packaging and dispatch of goods that customers ordered on the e-shop’s website. Thanks to the expansion in the second stage of construction, the building has a generous capacity of 30,500 pallet points, and it should therefore be able to cope with the most demanding peak times before Christmas. 

Tchibo is a German retail chain that originally offered only coffee and coffee products. Today it also sells consumer goods. The range of which changes every week and it is very varied—from household and kitchen appliances to fashion, sport, electronics, toys, jewellery and garden products. The range of Tchibo covers more than 75% of all categories of consumer goods. In 2015, the company was declared the leader in online clothing sales in the Czech Republic. Online sales represent 30% of its total revenues. 

Cheb industrial zone currently occupies approx. 40 hectares and the total number of employees is now approaching 3,000. Thanks to the rapid arrival of new investors in the last two years, Panattoni Park Cheb has become the fastest growing industrial park in Central Europe.