Private labels account for 6% of Carrefour sales

French retailer Carrefour, with over one billion euros in
turnover on the Romanian market, says the number of companies that
produce private labels for Carrefour has risen four times since the
beginning of this year, with private labels now accounting for 6%
of the company’ sales, i.e. over 60 million euros a year, according
to ZF estimates. “In the context of the current crisis, a private
label provides Romanian producers with a new market, with an
opportunity to preserve their production capacities and to boost
their turnovers,” said Andreea Mihai, Carrefour’s marketing
manager. The new contracts signed by the retailer come after the
French decided to bring the Carrefour private label to the Romanian
market, as well (after Nr. 1, TeX and Bluesky). Companies that
currently produce under the new Carrefour private label include
Reinert Romania (sliced salami in vacuum packaging), Orkla Foods
Romania (margarine), Vascar (paté) and Farmec Cluj-Napoca
(cosmetics). Real, Carrefour’s main competitor on the hypermarket
segment, managed to sign contracts with the Micula brothers, owners
of European Drinks, this year, and with Radu Timis, CrisTim
shareholder, for the production of private labels. Private labels,
which are cheaper than already established brands, are gaining
ground in the current economic context, where consumers are much
more careful about how they distribute their shopping budget. A
survey conducted by Daedalus reveals that 45% of hypermarket
clients were interested in private labels as opposed to just 20% in
2008. In Romania, retailers’ private labels account for just 5% of
their sales, as opposed to 20-30% in most Western European
countries, with the local market put at 250 million euros.