Ostahie, Altex: We are bracing for 2014

The 35-40% demand collapse this year is just the first obstacle retailers of electronics and electrical home appliances have to overcome, as the arrival of major international store chains is inevitable after 2012, when the sector will rebound, says Dan Ostahie, Altex owner, the biggest entrepreneur on the market. "Our objective is not survival, but retaining the leading position on the market and bracing for 2014, when international networks will be in full expansion mode in Romania," states Ostahie. The 1.5bn-euro market (in 2008) is still in the hands of domestic entrepreneurs and investment funds, with Altex, Domo and Flamingo as the biggest players. "The crisis is giving domestic companies a respite to get things in order (…)," says Ostahie. The target of Altex, a network generating average sales of 3,000 euros per square metre, is to get close, in the next five years, to the performance of European retailers, which derive sales as high as over 7,000 euros per square metre, in line with a survey quoted by the company.