“Change is the word that defines this year, it took place in many regards, both personal – lifestyle, the way we work and interact, and in the business sector. All areas more or less felt these changes,” the Romanian executive said.
The change in the entire society also made an impact on the retail business, as the consumer behavior changed in 2020. First of all, how often customers shop changed, Mircea Moga said, in that they do it less often but buy more.
“There is also a downtrade (shift to cheaper products i.e.), compared with uptrade a few years ago. Customers are more cautious with their purchases, more interested in healthy products. They seek Romanian products.”
In 2019, online sales accounted for less than 1% of Mega Image’s sales but their share has grown fast since. However, they will not account for 10% next year, either, the retailer’s CEO says.
Mega Image will end the year with 850 stores, after having opened about 90 new ones in 2020. The group continued expanding at the same pace despite the pandemic, going to new cities or to areas of the cities it already served.
The retailer invests EUR50 million to EUR60 million in expansion and remodeling alone every year and allocates additional amounts to logistics for instance.
It developed a new warehouse in Stefanesti, which will become operational in 2021. This is the third logistics space for the offline network.
Mega Image ended last year with more than 6.6 billion lei sales, an increase of 16% on 2018.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)