Marc Carena, customer management director with Metro Cash&Carry, said consumer spending in 2012 will be similar to 2011 and forecasts for the coming years are hard to make. Metro had expected consumer spending to go up last year, too, which did not happen, Carena also said.
The estimate of the company official is the most pessimistic until now, considering several executives in food, clothing and cosmetics retail have announced they estimate a growth in sales, betting on a rise in consumer spending this year.
Moreover, the retail sales – the most important indicator of consumer spending – went up by almost 10% in January, the highest increase in three years. The first signs of a rebound in consumer spending appeared last fall, when retail sales posted growths of 2% to 3%.
Despite its less than optimistic expectations for 2012, the German-held company launched its first franchise on the local market, La Doi Pasi (Two Steps Away). This project targets the 70,000 traditional retailers, a EUR7 billion to EUR8 billion market, which could become Metro’s partners via franchises.
So far, 200 such stores have joined the new network, which could generate a steady customer portfolio to the German retailer. Eighty of the 200 are already open for business.
Carena says La Doi Pasi was launched because the Metro does not want traditional retail to die, as shops on the ground floor of apartment buildings and traditional food stores are, along with hotels, restaurants and catering companies and office buildings, among its best customers.
(English version by Loredana Frățilă-Cristescu)