Altex loses market share to hypermarkets

Altex, the largest retailer on the market of electronics and home appliances in Romania, has reduced its market share by some 2-3%, which it lost to the international Carrefour and Metro store chains, says Dan Ostahie (photo), Altex group chairman. “This is largely because of the limitations imposed on lending granted to customers that only need to produce an ID to get it and led to the decline of the business of the specialised retailers, such as Altex, favouring hypermarket chains, which have somewhat more aggressive policies in place,” Ostahie said. Altex currently has a share of approximately 30% of the market, according to its own estimates. “Altex group’s turnover amounted to some 100 million euros in the first half and we expect more than 150 million-euro turnover in the second half of 2006,” Ostahie stated. He believes eliminating customs duties on Asian-made products will fuel market growth in 2007, though the level of 2005 will not be exceeded. “The white goods (home appliances i.e.) will witness a 20% decline, the brown goods (electronics i.e.), will drop by 10%, while IT&C products will stagnate. The market is regulating itself now, after the 2003-2005 period, when the consumer lending and flat tax acted as a booster. The market is now reaching the right, actual level and is starting to grow soundly,” Ostahie said. He put this year’s market of electronics and home appliances at approximately 700 million euros, less than last year’s 800 million.