“Carrefour is trying to test the market with a smaller, hard discount store format and it may use Angst stores to do it, which are very well positioned in Bucharest,” the cited sources said.
Early this year, Carrefour announced plans to launch a new store format without specifying the format or the time. According to the 2010 financial report of the French retailer, Carrefour also owns convenience and hard discount stores and coffee shops, besides hypermarkets and supermarkets, two formats it also introduced on the Romanian market.
Angst stores are either convenience stores or supermarkets, with areas ranging from 150 to 1,000 square meters. They sell mainly Angst cold cuts and other products, either similar (cold cuts) or different (sweets, bakery etc.).
It is yet unknown how the partnership between Angst, a company controlled by Romanian businessman Sorin Minea, and Carrefour will go, as the only information available at the moment is that the Angst stores will also use the Carrefour Market name.
“The partnership between the two companies is a sign of maturity for the Romanian retail market and an initiative that has the potential to generate synergies for both of them: Angst could benefit from the expertise of a major international retailer, with everything that entails – category management, in-store design, promotion policy – while Carrefour could benefit from the additional store chain at lower costs than it would have had if developing it from scratch,” says Adrian Comaneci, senior project manager with research and consultancy firm Contrast Management Consulting & Training Romania.
He added this was a very interesting step that may lead to a new development model for the Romanian retail market.
A franchise deal between the two companies is unlikely, considering Angst stores will retain both their logo and also use Carrefour’s.
“In a franchise deal, the franchiser, Carrefour, may allow the franchisee, Angst, to use Carrefour’s logo, corporate identity, sales techniques and products in Angst’s stores. This is what a franchise is in the true meaning of the word,” says Eugen Driga, program manager with IMO Franchising Group, a franchising specialist.
He adds that there is also the possibility of having the Angst stores divided between an Angst area, retaining the company’s identity and selling its products and a Carrefour area with Carrefour’s identity and products.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu; Editing by Radu Bostan)