“The specialist retail market went up by 7% or 8% in the first two months of the year, January and February together, and the growth trend will maintain in the coming months. We estimate the electrical and computer retail market, excluding phones, will reach EUR1.25 billion (VAT not included),” says Violeta Luca, marketing manager of electronics, home appliances and computer retailer Flanco.
The retailer posted EUR110 million sales last year, up 37.5% on 2010. Flanco expects almost 30% growth for this year to EUR140 million.
Home appliances manufacturer Indesit, too, sees the market growing, and says the market it operates on showed the first positive signs in the last quarter of 2011.
Giuseppe Parma, country manager of Indesit in Romania, says a positive trend is expected for 2012, especially when it comes to those product categories with a still low penetration rate such as washing machines or dishwashers. A month ago he said the refrigerator and cooker penetration ratio was 90% and the washing machines’ was 70%, among the lowest in the region. Parma added then that Romania would catch up with countries like Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic in ten years.
The market of big home appliances amounted to EUR328 million last year, up 4.1%. This is the second most important segment after the IT products on the durable goods market, which includes electronics, small and big home appliances, photo, IT and telecom products and office equipment.
The total market rose by almost 13% in 2011 on the previous year, to EUR1.425 billion, according to the GfK Temax survey conducted by market research company GfK Romania. The small home appliances segment stood at EUR108 million, up 15.1%.
The officials of Whirlpool Romania, the local representative office of one of the world’s largest home appliances manufacturers, say that this country witnessed economic growth last year, which had a positive influence on the market of home appliances.
“Romania’s is a big market and home appliances are necessary products, which ultimately even users with low purchasing power buy. The growth of this segment last year confirms that such products are found in Romanians’ ‘shopping basket’ more and more often,” says Mioara Bolozan, marketing manager of Whirlpool Romania.
She added her company expected the market to grow moderately by 5% to 7% this year and that Romania would become again a market where obsolete products are replaced with newer models with a special design or improved technical specifications.
Manufacturers rely on sales of built-in products, notebooks and flat screen TVs for growth this year, as Indesit, Whirlpool and Flanco officials said.
(English version by Loredana Frățilă-Cristescu)