Non-food products accounted for 8.3% of the sales in the first half of 2010.
The share of cigarettes in total sales went up from 42.4% in mid 2010 to 45.8% in the first part of this year, gaining ground on foods, which contributed less than one third of traditional retail sales, compared with 60% in modern retail.
According to Nielsen, revenue generation is very different for modern and traditional retail. Cigarettes account for only 6.5% of hypermarkets, supermarkets and discount stores sales, while non-food products generate 28%.
Modern retail revenue makeup remained largely the same in 2010 and 2011, while the only category with a relatively constant share in traditional retail sales was alcoholic beverages (13.8% in 2011).
Romanian retail sector lost 6,500 kiosks and traditional grocery outlets in the last four years, which means significant decline for traditional retail.
On the other hand, modern retail (cash & carry and discount stores, hypermarkets and supermarkets) doubled the number of stores during the same amount of time, to almost 900, which have more floor space on the average than traditional kiosks and grocery outlets.
However, kiosk and traditional grocery outlets still prevail in local retail in terms of number of stores, with about 74,000, according to Nielsen survey.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)