Alza.cz

Alza.cz a.s. is an e-commerce store operating in the Czech Republic, Slovakia (Alza.sk), and since 2014, in other European Union countries (Alza.de, Alza.at, Alza.hu, Alza.co.uk, Alzashop.com).[1] It’s one of the largest online consumer electronics retailers in Central Europe with a strong stance in the toys, hobby, media and entertainment, perfume, watches and beauty segments too. It operates a chain of brick-and-mortar stores bearing the same name (Alza). The company was founded in 1994 under the name Alzasoft.

Now (in 2018) the company has 49 stores and 78 AlzaBoxes, which are found throughout the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. Showrooms can be found in Prague, Bratislava and Budapest. The company Alza.cz is the largest online shop in the Czech Republic with an annual turnover of over €820 million excluding VAT (21 billion CZK) in 2017. At the end of 2017, Alza.cz offered around 200,000 products and completed over 2.9 million purchase orders.[2]

Alza.cz is owned by a group of investors that control it through the holding company L. S. Investments Limited, which is based in Cyprus. The shareholders are unknown. The Chief Executive Officer and Board of Directors is the company‘s founder Aleš Zavoral. Alza.cz acts as a Czech joint-stock company with a tax domicile in the Czech Republic.

History
Alza Paybox

In 1994, the company founder Aleš Zavoral acquired his trade license for commercial activity. In the spring 1998, the company’s first website was created, although it did not yet serve as an e-commerce site. In the summer of 1998, Alzasoft rented out a small store on Dělnická street in Prague, Czech Republic. In 2000, it moved to a bigger space on Jateční street in Prague. That’s when its website also became an e-commerce store. In August 2002, the store and warehouses were flooded, but this did not jeopardise the company much.[3]

The join-stock company Alzasoft a.s. emerged on 1 January 2004. It had 35 employees during that time. Alzasoft opened a branch in Slovakia (and gradually in Bratislava, Nitra, Trenčín and Trnava). The company warehouses located in the Prague Market in Holešovice were also expanded to a total of 1600m². In the year 2006, the company went through rebranding and was renamed Alza.cz. In 2008, the company created its own company mascot as the main face of most of its advertisements – Alza Alien.[4]

In the summer of 2010, Alza opened a new logistics centre in Prague - Horní Počernice. In October 2015, Alza launched its Alza Premium club program. With an annual fee, Alza Premium members can receive free shipping, music, movies, special delivery services and an extended returns period.[5]

In 2016, Alza.cz launched its online shop in Hungary, and it started to deliver purchase orders to customers even on Saturdays and Sundays. Alza also opened up its store hours during the weekend. In December 2016, Alza surpassed two of its records: it sold over one billion CZK in one week,[6] and it hit a record of over 200 million CZK in purchase orders in one day.

AlzaExpres delivery service

In 2017, Alza.cz started selling electric cars, such as Tesla and other brands, and took part in cryptocurrency by giving the option to pay for purchases using Bitcoin.[7] In regards to its European expansion, in the same year it opened its first store in Austria, a showroom in Hungary, and it rented out the new warehouse P3 Prague D8 in Zdiby. It also created a new B2C E-Commerce subject at the University of Economics, Prague.[8]

References
  1. a.s., Alza. "Alzashop.com initiates international expansion". www.alzashop.com. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  2. a.s., Alza. "Alza.cz in Numbers: Year 2017". www.alza.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  3. a.s., Alza. "History & Present". www.alzashop.com. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  4. a.s., Alza. "History & Present". www.alzashop.com. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  5. Slížek, Jan Beránek a David. "Alza spouští svou verzi prémiové služby Amazon Prime - Lupa.cz". Lupa.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  6. Kejduš, Radomír (2016-12-21). "Alza zveřejnila rekordní tržby – lidé tam za minulý týden utratili miliardu korun - Cnews.cz". Cnews.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  7. a.s., Alza. "Finally, you can buy a new Tesla using Bitcoin". www.alzashop.com. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  8. Media, News. "Alza.cz zaštítí výuku na VŠE, zavádí tam předmět E-commerce B2C". Retailek (in Czech). Archived from the original on 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
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