Although they spend RON197 on average every time they shop in a hypermarket, they spend less when going shopping in a supermarket or a convenience store, said Arnaud Dussaix, chief operating officer of Carrefour Romania, during the Trade Round Table conference organized by Magazinul Progresiv magazine.
He did not say exactly how much Romanians spend in supermarkets or convenience stores, even though the company operates such stores in this country.
The French executive who has been with Carrefour for more than a decade said that Romanian consumers preferred to go to hypermarkets to do their weekend shopping. Almost 79% of them shop in one of the 144 hypermarkets in Romania, while none of the other store formats exceeds 10%.
Some supermarkets, especially Mega Image, are conducting a campaign to lure hypermarket customers away, offer similar prices. The range of products is less diverse, however.
Hypermarkets were the top shopping destinations during the boom days and retailers relied heavily on expansion.
Once the financial crisis set in, consumer behavior changed and people started to choose small stores in the center of the cities. Moreover, discount stores won the price battle, as price became one of the main factors in a buying decision.
Still, Arnaud Dussaix says that price is not as important in Romania as in other countries, adding he is optimistic about Romania since he came back from Greece.
The French executive worked for Carrefour Romania from 1999 through 2011 and was then sent to Greece as project leader and operational director, where he stayed for ten months according to his LinkedIn profile. He returned to Romania this June.
The price is not the main factor for Romanians when shopping, but is one of the top five, along with a pleasant shopping experience, the position of the store, the product quality and the abundant supply of products in a store, Dussaix said.
Carrefour hypermarkets carry about 50,000 products on average, according to Dussaix. Supermarkets and convenience stores carry less than one tenth of that but have gained ground after opening tens or even hundreds of new stores every year.
This is what made Carrefour, the first company to introduce hypermarkets in Romania in 2001, expand to supermarket and convenience store segments with its Carrefour Market and Carrefour Express brands.
There is still room for hypermarkets both in Bucharest and in the rest of the country, Arnaud Dussaix believes. The Carrefour group, however, will focus on expansion of the convenience store segment and is already in talks with two or three potential franchisees, he said.
Carrefour has 24 hypermarkets, 59 supermarkets and 8 convenience stores. The group entered the convenience store segment via a partnership with a local company, Angst, last year.
It ended 2011 with EUR1.07 billion in revenue, the same as in its best year, 2008, but generated by a network twice the size it was back then.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)