“The crisis reduced the value of the FMCG market by some EUR5 billion, compared to the high reached in 2008, which means a 29% decline,” company project manager Adrian Comaneci told a news conference Wednesday.
However, the company official added, the segment may grow by an annual 5% in upcoming years, helped by higher purchase power, aggressive development by modern retail and changes in consumer behavior.
According to the survey, the average sum spent by a Romanian in retail is less than half the European average, even though retailers on this segment expanded aggressively and had a total 729 stores nationwide at the end of 2010.
Hypermarkets are ranked first among retailers in terms of sales volumes, with a 46% market share, followed by cash&carry (29%) and discounters (12%), who overtook supermarkets.
Romania hosts five of Europe’s largest FMCG retailers, namely Carrefour, Metro, Lidl & Schwarz, Rewe and Auchan.
According to the latest Finance Ministry data, quoted by the Contrast study, annual sales average EUR950 million among the five companies in 2009. At the same time, profitability stood at some 0.5%.
At the end of 2009, sales per sqm averaged an annual EUR5,000, while sales per employee averaged EUR129,000.
“At the end of last year, Romania had some 100,000 sqm of modern retail space per citizen, twice less than the average surfaces in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic,” Comaneci said.
He added the Romanian market can support another 830,000 sqm of modern FMCG retail space.
Contrast Management Consulting is an Austrian consultancy firm with offices in Bucharest, Budapest, Prague, Moscow, Wien and Zagreb.