The plans do not stop here, though, as Norbert W. Scheele, C&A country manager Central and Eastern Europe, says there is room for more stores.
“Romanians, both women and men, are very fashionable and extremely selective regarding their outfits,” the executive says.
“Moreover, it is vital for Romanians that the purchase of fashion items fit into the virtual triangle of price/performance, quality and fashion. Romanians never shop without a target in mind. They are smart customers, know exactly what they want and how much they are prepared to spend for it.”
Consumer spending behavior has not significantly changed over the past few years and the only change is the rising demand for organic cotton products. This approach has a considerable influence on the fashion market, Scheele believes.
Romania is dominated by low price retailers which account for more than 50% of the market, according to market research company PMR. The low-price segment is where C&A is positioned, as well, along with Takko. Sweden’s H&M targets the medium segment and Zara targets customers with higher than average incomes.
C&A, H&M and Zara are the most powerful fashion brands in Romania by revenue. Inditex, Zara’s owner, has six more brands in Romania positioned on various market segments.
“All big fashion retailers have a store network in Romania that makes the market very dynamic and highly competitive,” Norbert W. Scheele says.
C&A arrived in Romania during the crisis in 2009 and its business model ensured it was not affected by it. Crisis made Romanian consumers pay more attention to how they spend their money, so price became one of the main factors considered in a purchase.
“(…) we have made very good progress to develop our business in Romania. We intend to open new additional C&A stores in Romania and have not completed our expansion strategy yet. We know that there is still a lot of potential for further development.”
C&A has 31 stores in Romania, two of which opened in Mega Mall in Bucharest and Shopping City in Targu Jiu this May.
“This month we will open another store in Deva’s Shopping City.”
So far the company has not closed any store and has no plans to do it in the future, either, the C&A official says.
Norbert W. Scheele did not provide any sales figures expectations for this year, but says 2015 has been a good year. Moreover “we are looking forward to a successful autumn and winter season.”
C&A posted RON276.4 million revenue in 2014, an increase of about 18% on 2013. It also posted RON12 million profit, down from the almost RON20 million in 2013.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)