“The luxury market shrank by 10% to 15% year-on-year in 2012. Our business was in sync with the market. We witnessed decline in both customer numbers and cash receipt.”
The local business of Hugo Boss, which has a store in Constanta (SE Romania) and one in Bucharest, dropped 10% to EUR1.5 million last year, as the customer numbers fell, as did the frequency of their visits and their spending.
“A customer comes in today and buys a single suit because he needs it. They would once come and buy six of them at a time just to have them in their wardrobe,” says Andrei Alecu.
Andrei Alecu does not see any significant changes this year.
“We hope the market and our business will stay at the same level as last year and that is an optimistic scenario.”
The 10% decline comes after the 20% growth of 2011 year-on-year.
The Hugo Boss franchise is equally held by Alecu and Adrian Matei. Andrei Alecu is the son of Marian Alecu who ran the McDonald’s chain in Romania for sixteen years. His partner is the son of Ion Matei, the owner of beverage importer Lerida International.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)