Casa Rusu: Many entrepreneurs are clinging on to their mark-ups

Cristian Rusu, general manager of Rus Savitar in Timisoara, which operates furniture stores Casa Rusu, with over 20 million euros in turnover, says many entrepreneurs are not adjusting their offer to 2010 conditions and are not coming up with genuine discount policies.

"These people are content with selling less and making a bigger profit, and do not pursue a genuine discount policy. They won't agree to cut their 200-300% mark-ups and work with 20-30% margins. They prefer to post weaker sales than adjust their mark-up," Rusu, 32, told Ziarul Financiar in an interview.

In the first four months of the year the company posted a 22.9 million-RON (5.5 million-euro) turnover, up almost 50% against the similar period of last year. The company's profit amounted to 1.5 million RON (0.4 million euros), double as much as in the similar period of 2008. The turnover rise came amid the opening of new stores, with the company now having nine stores.