“After the domestic retail market expanded by 123% in the past decade, being the most dynamic in the region by far, it will continue to grow in the next ten years, still being the most dynamic in the region. There is still growth potential,” says Adrian Comaneci, senior project manager with Contrast Managing Consulting.
Contrast is a management consultancy set up in Austria in 1993. The company entered the domestic market in 2005 and in 2009 reached turnover of 17.2 million lei (EUR4 million) and profit of RON2.2 million.
Growth forecasts for the market and the fact that Romania has boasted the fastest growth pace in retail over the last few years and that the pace will maintain until 2020 may explain why retailers are still investing in Romania despite the crisis and despite consumer spending falling in 2010 and the first three months of this year by over 5%.
In 2010, modern format retailers – cash&carry, hypermarket, supermarket and discount stores, opened 132 units, says the cited survey, in which they invested some EUR200 million, according to ZF calculations. Supermarkets and discount stores are the most active players in terms of expansion. (EUR1=RON4.1297)