Hypermarkets double market share

The hypermarket, the largest retail format on the Romanian market witnessed the strongest increase of all new types of retail last year. With four operational stores at the end of last year, hypermarkets have come to account for 12% of the total expenses made for household consumption in Bucharest, up from 5% in 2003.

The hypermarkets’ share of the market more than doubled compared with the previous year, according to the statistics of the market research institute GfK Romania. In fact, the hypermarkets were the only type of retail that gained market share last year. “This important leap affected other types of modern and traditional retail to a certain extent,” believes Raluca Raschip, Consumer Scan Manager with GfK Romania market research institute.

The over 120 million euros invested in the three hypermarkets opened in Bucharest by French operators Carrefour and Cora in 2003 and 2004 enabled this type of retail to go from 5% (its share in the total household consumption of consumer goods in 2003), to 12% in 2004.

Hypermarkets accounted for 2% of the total spending on consumer goods for household consumption, with this value derived from the performance of the hypermarkets in Bucharest almost entirely, as the only hypermarket outside the Capital is the one opened by Carrefour in Brasov last autumn. Things will definitely change in the next few years, particularly because the French at Carrefour have started works on a hypermarket in Ploiesti slated for opening towards the end of this year. There are also plans for hypermarkets in Galati, as well as in other major cities throughout the country. The development strategy will allow the hypermarket operator to increase its turnover even further, following the doubling last year, when Carrefour announced it had made 265 million-euro turnover.

Competitors at Cora in their turn have announced that besides the hypermarket scheduled for western Bucharest, they are to start construction works on another hypermarket, this time located in Cluj, following a 25 million-euro investment.
ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro