Jacobo Caller Celestino, general manager of Carrefour Romania, believes the supermarket sector has a higher potential than the discount segment, and does not plan to launch any stores on the latter segment on medium term.
"I believe the supermarket sector has a huge growth potential. The market share remains small because hypermarkets and discount stores have polarised food retail," explains Caller.
He has two priorities this year: to expand the hypermarket network and to rebrand Artima supermarket by rapidly expanding the network it acquired last year from Polish Enterprise Fund V.
The French retailer's investments in Romania this year are estimated to be worth between 100-200m euros, however Caller believes the sum could be much higher, depending on market opportunities.
According to the general manager, the targeted stores should have over 800-1,000 square metres to allow for expansion on the supermarket segment. Plus Discount network is a possible target because Germany's Tengelmann, the current network operator, is considering an exit from the domestic market.
The Romanian market is one of Carrefour's priorities in terms of expansion with investments being financed from the domestic subsidiary's own resources, from bank loans contracted in Romania, and from the parent company's funds. Across all the French retailer's markets, Romania derived the strongest sales in 2007, of around 42% year-on-year, followed by Brazil and Poland.
"Organised Romanian retail performed well compared with the previous year. DIY retail also reported substantial increases during this period," adds Caller.
He expects modern consumer goods retail to register continued growth this year, although some of its rivals may slow down their expansion amid the deepening crisis on international financial markets.
"I've sensed pessimism on the market in the wake of the international crisis. However, I remain upbeat, Carrefour hasn't changed its policy for the Romanian market, and will continue to act rapidly," states Caller. However, he believes the international crisis is making the Romanian market less predictable than before.
This year, Carrefour forecasts sales in excess of 1bn euros on the hypermarket segment.
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