“Bonjour, Carrefour, good to see you!” is the message with which retailer Profi opened a supermarket in Constanta located in front of that of rival Carrefour.
“For Romania, Profi’s campaign is more aggressive than what the market was used to as in our country companies do not refer to rivals when they promote themselves,” says Stefan Liute, strategy director at branding agency Storience.
In Romania, this is just the beginning of such campaigns, but Liute says a bolder promotion also means a stronger impact.
Modern retailers have opened around 1,400 stores in Romania, already filling the best positions on the market. Many times, though, such positions have attracted not just one, but several rivals.
“All retailers are seeking to identify the areas that include as many of their consumers as possible to position their stores nearby. If the respective area is already a retail pole, companies analyze their rivals and choose to open stores when they consider they can stand out from them,” says Georgiana Andrei, recently appointed on the office & retail agency director at Colliers Romania.
While there are cases where clients are divided between the two rivals, there are also situations where a retail pole attracts clients from other areas as well.
Razvan Sin, head of retail and real estate consultancy DTZ Echinox, says that before opening a store, retailers conduct thorough surveys. “If the competition impact is too high, they will not open. If they find an uncovered niche, then they open,” says Sin.
In the case of Kaufland, business plans are drawn up 2-3 years before, when the company also buys the land plots where it subsequently develops the stores.
“Sometimes, two groups with different store formats happen to open stores close to each other. The two are positioned on different segments and target different clients, so that they do not harm each other, but they can even help each other,” adds Razvan Sin.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)