Carrefour hypermarket network last year stayed above the1bn-euro threshold in terms of sales, but in 2010 it will strugglemore than ever to keep its leading position on the market.
Germany's Real and Kaufland networks have been rapidly catchingup counting on an aggressive expansion strategy, and the plans thetwo retailers have announced for 2010 will pose a serious threat toCarrefour in the context where the French company has significantlyslowed down hypermarket expansion pace.
In 2009, the first year it coped with consumption declines inRomania, Carrefour finalised just two of the seven new hypermarketsit had planned on paper before the crisis.
On the other hand, Kaufland and Real also bet on speedyexpansion and finalised six and four new stores, respectively.
For the first time since it entered the Romanian market, in2001, Carrefour French group, the second largest player in domesticretail after Germany's Metro, last year generated sales worthalmost 1.14bn euros in Romania, with 22 operational hypermarketsand 25 supermarkets, down 4.6% from 2008, in the wake of fallingconsumption.
Sales in RON continued to rise, though, with a 9.4% advancebeing reported for the above-mentioned interval as a result of theexpansion of the two operated networks.
Last year, Carrefour opened two hypermarkets domestically, inOradea and Bucharest, and also added 6 new locations to itssupermarket network, in the wake of total investments ZF puts atover 50m euros.
2009 was the first year when Carrefour closed a store inRomania. After Armonia mall of Braila was closed, the Frenchcompany had to give up this location. The group also gave up itstravel operations by closing Carrefour Voiaj Romania agencies.
Despite this activity cutback, Carrefour is still expected to bea dynamic retailer in terms of expansion domestically in thefollowing years, though the growth pace will not be as fast as inthe 2006-2008 period.
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