Vlad, Selgros: We will see a rebound of consumer spending in the second half
Alexandru Vlad, executive manager of Selgros Cash&Carry and one of the few Romanians at the helm of a multinational retail company, with around 4,200 employees and 720 million euros in turnover in 2009, says we will see a rebound of consumer spending in the second half of the year, after a first half with lingering recession.
At present, a wide category of customers are going for the first price level and a narrow category are going for premium prices. The medium price segment was the most hurt during the crisis. In the future, he adds, there will be a customer differentiation by price levels. "This will not occur from one day to another, it will be a long process that will take years."
Vlad believes 2011 will be the year of economic stabilisation, not necessarily in retail, but in the economy as a whole. Fortunately, he says, we are interconnected with Western-European markets, and their stabilisation will bring about our own. "We will probably see a difficult first half and a stable second half."