The company is the third largest private employer in the country after OMV Petrom (SNP.RO) and Dacia, the best-known Romanian name abroad. The top employers also include other retailers such as Carrefour, Metro and Real.
Retailers became some of the largest employers in the economy during the crisis years because they continued to invest hundreds of millions of euros in new store openings to offset consumer-spending decline and prepare for better days.
“Kaufland Romania has created more than 13,000 jobs so far at its headquarters in Bucharest, in the stores opened and at its logistics center in Ploiesti Industrial Park,” the company said.
Kaufland arrived in Romania in 2005 and has been aggressively expanding ever since. Its network numbers 83 discount hypermarkets. It is the largest hypermarket chain by far, with three times more stores than Carrefour and Real and about eight times more than Cora and Auchan.
It has opened two hypermarkets this year already in Pascani and Radauti (north-eastern and northern Romania).
The retailer has been hiring every year as its network expanded. Each store requires 100 to 150 staff. Most positions offered were sales clerk and merchandise handler, which usually pay no more than 1,000 lei (EUR227) in net amount and where personnel turnover is highest.
Despite the situation, Florin Godean, country manager of the local branch of Adecco, one of the world’s largest personnel recruitment and leasing companies says retailers and generally Kaufland continuing to hire regardless of wage is good for the economy.
“It’s a good thing the retailer continues to hire. Any new job matters and Kaufland’s expansion helps suppliers and logistics companies develop. It’s a chain reaction.”
As a hypermarket chain, Kaufland carries about 15,000 products, either brand names, regionally known products or private labels. The number of suppliers is much higher than a discount store or supermarket’s. The chain sells both foods and cosmetics, apparel and household care products.
“Retailer expansion has its advantages for us on the one hand, because we can sell more. On the other hand, negotiations to get on the shelves are becoming increasingly tough. Retailer expansion is good for us, for the time being,” says Catalin Grecu marketing manager of winemaker Cotnari, one of the largest in its business.
This expansion can also be a good sign for consumer spending, which has been affected in the last four years. The financial crisis made Romanians more careful about how much they spend when shopping and Kaufland took advantage of the situation by charging low prices and carrying a wide range of products.
The retailer has kept its sales per store relatively constant and continued aggressive expansion, by opening at least ten stores in each of the last three years. It should keep the same pace this year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)