Several international retail chains are expecting entry on the Romanian market, in spite of the big names that have already arrived in the last few years.
The future investors include Germany-based Tengelmann and Dohle, Migros Turk (Turkey), Leclerc and Tesco, according to Gerd Harig, general manager of the Federal Association of Retail Trade in Foodstuffs (BVL), based in Hamburg.
“Romania is one of the poorest countries in Eastern Europe. The retail trade here is highly fragmented. In spite of this, the number of foreign investments in foodstuffs trade in Romania has surged over the past few years,” Harig said, adding those coming in Romania were exerting a certain caution, relying on the future potential rather than on the already existing one.
German Tengelmann Group registers nearly $26bn annual turnover and specialises in supermarkets. Tengelmann is a top player in the Central and Eastern Europe, that is in the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland.
The German group is already operating in Romania, as it is to build a logistics centre and warehouses in Ploiesti through its Plus discount division. The investment is estimated to 20 million euros.
It will later open a supermarket chain and invest about 200 million euros in it.
Migros Turk is part of the Koc Turkish conglomerate. It holds hypermarkets in Bulgaria through its Ramstore division and is planning to expand to other countries in the Balkan area. The Turkish group was operating more than 450 stores in 2002.
French Leclerc Group operates on the hypermarket segment and sells more than $22bn’s worth a year. It derives most of its revenue from France, but also operates in the Central and Eastern Europe, in countries like Poland and Slovenia.
Officials of this group have visited Romania several times over the last few years, although no project has materialised yet.
As in Leclerc’s case, Tesco has been reportedly planning to enter the Romanian market for a number of years, especially after consolidating its position in the region.
Tesco’s annual turnover is in excess of $30bn.
Dohle had operated on the Polish market until mid last year. Its 13 hypermarkets in that country, operating under the Hit brand, were bought by Tesco.
“When it comes to expansion beyond the national borders, two concepts have been proven to work best when exported: the hypermarket (either of French or British origin) and the discount-type store,” Harig added.
The top players on the discount-type store market are the German ones, as Germany is the country where this type of trade was born. They have a strong potential abroad, where their market share currently reaches less than 10%, according to Harig.
The Romanian retail market is constantly changing. Whereas 13 years ago, foodstuff stores and markets were the only types of trade known, today almost every type of trade in the Western Europe has reached Romania.
claudia.covaci@zf.ro ; ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro