The company opened about 50 new stores in 2016 and plans to continue at the same rate.
“We will continue expansion on the existing markets in 2017 and are getting ready to open our first stores in Cluj. Our goal is to keep up the pace (of expansions i.e.), conditioned by the external factors that conditioned us in 2016,” Mega Image officials say without elaborating further.
So far, the retailer has opened stores on a 250-kilometer radius around Bucharest. More than 80% of its stores operate in the capital city and the surrounding areas because this is where purchasing power is at its highest. Therefore, entry on the Cluj market is a first for the retailer.
The fast-paced expansion ensured continued growth for Mega Image’s sales.
Consumer spending has been on the rise lately, so Mega Image is confident the trend will continue, and consumers will expand the range of products they buy, the retailer officials added, without providing any details about the revenue in Romania.
The retailer ended the first half of 2016 with almost 2.2 billion lei sales (EUR488 million), up 32% on the year-ago period. If growth continued at the same rate, then sales should have exceeded RON4.7 billion. (EUR1=RON4.5110)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)