Despite turnover increases, hypermarkets' sales per sqm are down 16%

Local hypermarkets last year reached an average 5,800 euros in annual sales per square metre, around 1,000 euros less than in 2008, this being one of the best performance indicators in retail.
Based on this indicator (sales per square metre), one can notice that, although turnovers of the five hypermarket chains on the Romanian market went up by 3% or 100 million euros, the advance is generated solely by the expansion of sales areas, while sales per square metre are down 16%, i.e. by around 1,000 euros, according to ZF calculations.