“Small stores will continue to play a very important role because the level of urbanization in Eastern Europe is not so big. One cannot build a hypermarket in Filiasi (Dolj county- e.n.) or in Vascauti (Suceava county- e.n.), because this can only be done in cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants,” said Vlad, who is also the head of trade industry employer associations.
He added that small stores and discount stores are pretty new on the market, therefore, retailers operating this type of units will probably continue to expand “at a fast pace.”
Vlad referred to German retailer Lidl, which has 3,300 stores in Germany, 570 in Poland, 527 in Spain, 380 in The Netherlands and 180 in Romania. He pointed out that Lidl will never have 3,300 units in Romania, as it has in Germany, but it will definitely keep expanding at a fast pace.
As regards big stores, Vlad said the expansion rate will be slower, while for medium-sized stores, there is still room on the market, yet “not so much,” he added.
According to Vlad, product brands will “definitely” lose a little bit of value, because brands are not the only thing that sparks confidence in consumers.
“We have private label brands (own brands – e.n.) offered by retailers, but there are also other brands that are gradually gaining ground, as they all offer the same quality, but at much better prices,” said Vlad, adding that store brands will replace brand names which will no longer mean as much anymore.