Hypermarkets were outrun by discounters in terms of the expansion pace registered in the first half of this year.
Hypermarkets, which last year posted a 72.5% advance in the number of stores held on the domestic market compared with 2006, expanded by 7.25% in the first half compared with the end of 2007, through the opening of five stores, shows a survey Carrefour presented at a retail workshop. However, discounter networks were the ones boasting the fastest growth this year, with 19 stores being opened overall in the first half, a growth rate of 14.3% from the end of 2007. Last year, discounters rose by 46% from 2006, in terms of the number of units, reaching 133 stores. Overall, major food retail networks have expanded by 10% since the beginning of the year, from 326 to 354 stores.
Modern format stores last year held a 39% share of Romanian retail, according to Andreea Mihai, marketing manager with Carrefour Romania, quoting GfK data. Domestically, this share is still low compared with other countries in the region. "Looking at the more developed markets of Europe, we can realise there are no reasons of concern in the following years with regard to the growth pace of modern retail," said Andreea Mihai.
The most popular modern store formats are hypermarkets and supermarkets, each accounting for 15% in overall consumer goods sales in Romania, followed by discounter stores and cash & carry stores, with a share of 5% and 4%, respectively, in the retail market, shows GfK survey quoted by Carrefour's representative. In Romania, market players say that chances are slim that the discounters segment should dominate food retail.
Mihai also mentioned Romanian retail is encountering major problems in terms of employee recruitment, particularly in Bucharest, amid the low unemployment and major personnel fluctuation within companies. She added the shortage of skilled personnel on the Romanian market threatens to erode the quality of services in retail, but she specified a solution would be to invest in the permanent training of all employees. Among other challenges present on the retail market, Mihai also mentioned fuel and food price increases, generating inflation.
Sales by the main retail groups of Romania rose by 44% in 2007 year-on-year, to 6.9bn euros, according to Andreea Mihai, quoting data provided by Planet Retail research firm.
In 2007, the biggest sales were registered by Metro Cash & Carry, Selgros Cash & Carry, Carrefour, Kaufland and Cora store chains. According to Planet Retail estimates, Kaufland and Cora hypermarket networks, which have not reported 2007 financial results so far, last year generated sales worth 580 million euros and 576 million euros, respectively.
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