Romania, with EUR1.5 billion sales, contributes 12% to the results of the region, where Poland is the undisputed leader, with a market of about EUR7 billion. Calculated per capita, sales of clothing and footwear in Poland amounted to EUR183 in 2010. The region also includes Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
“Romania is the least developed country in the CE region. Many international companies have only just opened their first stores in the country. At the end of March 2011, the Swedish H&M entered the Romanian market and this was the main recent event in the Central European fashion industry,” the PMR survey reveals.
Each Romanian spends EUR73 on clothing and footwear every year, while Hungarians spend double as much, EUR142, while Czechs spend EUR172, as shown by PMR data.
The company also looked at the spending of people in Poland (EUR183) and in Slovakia (EUR193), but says that Romania will see the fastest growth pace, so that clothing and footwear spending will go up by 41% to EUR103 by 2013.
The regional fashion market amounted to EUR12.8 billion in 2010, up 8% in euros. PMR expects growth this year, too, 5%, mainly in Romania and Poland. Under the circumstances, total sales should reach EUR15 billion in 2013.
The fashion market has been less affected by the crisis compared to other sectors of Romania’s economy. This can be seen in the good performance of the largest companies on the market and in the fact that they continued to open new stores.
Even though consumer spending fell 5% in the first six months of the year, the fashion market went up 5% to 10%, as revealed by market research company Euromonitor and the companies in this industry. This is drawing more and more companies to Romania, such as H&M and New Look, which arrived this year alone. Those already operating on this market (Inditex, New Yorker and C&A) invested in expansion.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)