Publishing houses do not see any signs of a rebound on book market
Though publishing houses last year cut back the number of titles and the print runs of published books, distributed books in stores that provided shelf promotion and laid off part of employees, sales slumps by over 30%, in some cases, or even insolvency situations could not be avoided. Gabriel Scinteia, COO of All Publishing Group, specified the Education Ministry’s policy with regard to school libraries, as well as the support of teachers (they get a sum for the acquisition of textbooks) had a deep impact over the trend of publishing houses’ turnover. “If all market conditions remain the same this year, namely nothing will change in the distribution system or the ministry’s policy, the results will then be the same,” stated Iren Arsene, general manager and owner of Curtea Veche publishing house, with 2m-euro turnover in 2008.
Honda: It will take 2-3 years before we can speak of a hybrid car market in Romania
Masahiro Ikeda, deputy chairman with Honda Trading Romania, says the brand’s promotion budget for 2010 will be higher than last year’s because of the expansion on the TV and online segments. Car prices will rise this year and there will also be the pollution tax, elements that will further erode sales. The rebound of hybrid car sales will depend on the market, says Ikeda. “These models need time because people need to understand the car. (…) It will take another 2-3 years until we can speak of a sales volume for hybrid cars,” Ikeda said. Although the car market is not expected to go up in 2010, Honda Trading Romania is increasing its promotion budget as it plans to expand its market share to over 0.7%. Ikeda said that besides television, investments would also go to promoting the brand on the Internet.
Banks move to a new battleground
The battle for the installation of terminals for payments by card at retailers intensified last year, considering the number of players that entered the market went up, but the value of payments was still 8 times smaller than that of cash withdrawal operations, bankers say. Competition between banks is now felt at the level of fees. Small banks, with more aggressive expansion strategies, say transactions operated through their own terminals multiplied last year against 2008, while larger players also report two-digit increases. Banks offer retailers POS services individually, or together with other products or services, such as cash management, credit lines or treasury products. At the end of the third quarter of, 2009, there were 96,400 POS-es in Romania, up almost 15% from the same period of 2008, according to NBR data.
Metro resumes expansion with one store in Bucharest in H1
Metro Cash & Carry network, the biggest player in Romanian trade, announced it would expand this year in Bucharest by opening a store in the eastern area of the city. This will be the 25th store operated by the German company in Romania and the network’s second opening in the past three years. Investments in the new space can be put at over 20m euros. The store will be located in a retail park in Policolor area in south-eastern Bucharest, which will include a Real hypermarket as well, according to market information. Real company, also owned by Metro, previously announced it would open the Policolor store in H1, 2009. The German group’s investments in the project of south-eastern Bucharest can be put at over 40m euros and they are likely to generate more than 500 new jobs. Metro last year generated sales ZF put at over 2bn euros in its 48 Metro Cash & Carry and Real units of Romania.