Dutch budget clothing store Zeeman plans to open 100 new outlets this year, most of them outside the Benelux region.

The retailer currently operates 1,236 stores across Europe, 550 of which are in the Netherlands and 279 in Belgium. CEO Bart Karis told Belgian business daily De Tijd his company wants to expand further into other markets, ‘because we’re pretty much done with new stores in Belgium and the Netherlands’.

‘Do we want to become a European chain? We already are,’ said Karis, whose company also has outlets in Germany, Luxembourg and France.

The CEO said he saw his main competition coming from other cut-price retailers such as Primark. ‘Primark does indeed offer more fashionable clothing for low prices. We sell more timeless clothing. And yes, when a Primark opens up near a Zeeman we feel it.’

Zeeman scored an internet hit on Tuesday morning when it launched a wedding dress for €30. The first batch of 1,500 garments was sold out within hours of going on sale at 6am.