The sales, according to ZF’s estimates, will reach almost RON6.5 billion, an all-time high for the company that ranks second among Romanian entrepreneurial businesses after DIY retailer Dedeman. Third is pharmaceutical group Catena-Fildas.
“We’ve seen our sales increase slightly more than last year. We’ve done well in a number of categories. What contributed to this growth is the better availability of products compared with our competitors. Moreover, we’re doing better online and have better delivery services,” says Raul Filip, Altex’s purchasing manager.
When he talks about product availability, he means that the computer and electronics market, as other sectors, too, experienced production problems due to component shortage and price issues due to the price hikes across the entire chain, from energy to transportation. Anticipating the crisis, the retailer started building stocks eighteen months ago, preparing for Black Friday and December 2021, among others. November and December are the best months for computer and electronics retailers by far, and some of them make 30% of their yearly sales at such time.
“We started preparing for Black Friday 2021 last year, at the first sign of trouble. (…) We saw the delays coming and are prepared for the end of the year, both Black Friday and December.”
the retailer has 120 physical stores, most of them branded as Altex and several dozen branded as Media Galaxy, as well as one online store for each brand.
Altex is the leader of the local computer and electronics retail and ended last year with more than RON5 billion (more than EUR1 billion) sales, as a result of the growth rate that was double the overall market’s growth rate.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)