Sales of modern retail players were rounded off by Easter, which this year was celebrated in April (April 15 for the Orthodox), and this increase started to be felt in merchants’ pockets from the very first few days of the month.
ZF considered a 25% average increase for sales in April against a regular month. A similar increase was considered for December.
Based on this increase, modern retail sales in April amount, according to ZF calculations, to around EUR800 million, on an overall market worth around EUR8 billion.
The EUR800 million include food sales, as well as sales of clothing, home appliances and other non-food products.
Each year, retailers await December and the Easter month to round off their revenues because Romanians tend to have a culinary feast for the holidays, irrespective of the economic conditions. Although retailers said Romanians were no longer loading their baskets like they did before, modern retail players expect rises against a regular month.
Two weeks before Easter retailers said they had already started to feel the holidays approaching, as the number of customers rose. Sorana Georgia, executive manager of supermarket chain Billa, said at the beginning of April that usually in the two or three weeks in the run-up to Easter one could feel a rise in the volume of sales, which peak in the last few days before Easter.
Before the Easter holidays, retailers estimated a 20-30% sales rises against a regular month. Alexandru Vlad, executive manager of the 19-store chain Selgros Cash & Carry, said a few weeks ago that a significant sales increase would be felt especially in the week running up to Easter because it is then that most Romanians do their shopping (compared with a regular month). He did not offer a growth rate.
Carrefour representatives said at around the same time that they were relying on a 25-30% rise in April against a regular month, while Billa officials expected a 20% rise.
As for Real hypermarket sales, they were expected to rise by around 30% against a regular month.
During this period, the best-selling products were traditional ones, such as lamb, traditional cake, eggs, alongside vegetables and fruit.
Although this month’s sales are expected to be similar to those of a regular month, when measured against the similar period of last year (the month of Easter), not all retailers expect increases.
Alexandru Vlad, the head of Selgros, said a few weeks ago that sales will be similar to those recorded before Easter in 2011 as the purchasing power has remained more or less the same.
On the other hand, Sorana Georgia expected growth against 2011 given that two weeks before Easter the store chain recorded the same turnover as it did in 2011 one week before Easter.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)