Giants Zara, H&M and C&A planning to open at least 30 stores this year

Inditex (the owner of Zara), H&M and C&A, companies with 30 billion euros in cumulated turnover worldwide, will open at least 30 stores on the Romanian market in the most effervescent year for fashion retail.

With H&M’s entry on the Romanian market, Inditex and C&A are accelerating the rate of store openings this year. Although they appear to be similar, with the three having large-format stores, their ambitions are to dominate shopping centres and are swiftly moving from one collection to the next, the strategies of the three big companies differ more than they resemble each other, writes BUSINESS Magazin magazine (www.businessmagazin.ro).

On the Romanian market, the Spanish at Inditex, with turnover estimated at 100 million euros last year, are the first to have entered the Romanian market through a franchisee in 2004, and directly four years later. Now they own 56 stores, five of which opened this year and are planning to open at least ten more. Their market share stands at around 5% (with the fashion retail market estimated to amount to 1.9 billion euros). The next to arrive were the Dutch at C&A in April 2009. After nine months in business, the company collected nearly 8 million euros at the end of 2009. Official results have yet to be announced for 2010, but the company opened another four stores last year. Nine openings are planned for this year.

The latest one to enter the market was H&M, which opened its first two stores, both in Bucharest. Another six are set to open this year, with H&M representatives announcing that Romania is the first country where they are opening eight stores in their first year.