Nestle Romania’s sales director Laurentiu Dimitriu says producers must follow consumers everywhere, at home, in their cars, on the subway, in parks and at cinema and this is why they have to be present both in modern and traditional retail.
“The weight of traditional retail in revenue stands at 40% on average at Nestle Romania, but it differs a lot depending on categories,” says the Romanian executive, who was named sales director less than a year ago. The position is one of the most important in the company, with Dimitriu reporting directly to the CEO, Herve de Froment.
This is the most important position held by a Romanian executive at Nestle Romania, according to ZF data, as the Swiss giant preferred to have expats at the helm of local operations.
The executive explains that in the case of categories of products consumed at home, with shopping lists prevailing, the weight of traditional retail sales in overall sales is smaller. “For impulse categories, we have a very good coverage of traditional retail”.
Dimitriu says the universe (the total number of stores that can sell a product type) is expandable and serious producers must widen it. Thus, producers must “go after consumers” all day long, at home, in the car, on the subway, at work, in the park, at the cinema, at the restaurant.
“This is why traditional retail is important, it is always where consumers are. Also, there is a clear movement of the population toward rural areas. A lot of people are moving outside cities, where traditional retail is very strong,” adds the executive.
Nestle Romania ended last year with revenue of 663 million lei (EUR150 million), down over 7%. The Swiss giant, with almost 1,000 employees in Romania, stayed in the black for the second year in a row, but profit halved to RON2.2 million.
According to ZF’s latest information, Nestle is present in Romania through eight units. While it has tens of brands and products on the market, Nestle produces just a small part of them at the plant of Timisoara.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)