Amid strong market growth, the three retail networks that specialise in electrical home appliances and electronics - Altex, Domo and Flamingo, are beginning to face competition not only from hypermarkets and cash&carry stores, but also from new online competitors.
As the three retail channels develop, consumers will ask themselves questions about the advantages of purchasing from traditional, established stores in comparison to online shopping.
According to Emag estimates, an expanding online retail market, forecast to revolve around 250 million euros in 2008, threatens the top three retailers' dominant positions. This increase would cover the entire advance of the market for the current year, a reason why established retailers have shifted their focus and started to launch their own online sales platforms.
Flamingo, Altex, and Domo are now looking at companies such as Emag and Pcfun in an attempt to lure back customers who have started to buy white goods via the internet.
In the opinion of specialised retailers, this distribution channel will not account for more than 10% in overall sales. Therefore, online retailers are free to grow. Emag targets turnover worth 140-150m euros.
However, how much can online retail expand given customers' preference to try out goods before buying?
Besides online development, specialised retailers are further developing their traditional networks due to the fact that these account for 65% of sales on a market estimated at 1.1 billion euros last year. In 2008, the top players expect the market to continue to grow by around 10%.
Among the specialised retailers, Domo boasted the strongest sales increase last year, by almost 58%, and derived turnover worth 193m euros. In terms of growth, the leader of the market, Altex, ranked second with 49%, and managed to top last year's estimates after it reached overall sales worth around 317 million euros.
In the wake of the restructuring process, Flamingo, ranked third on the market, and came back into the black last year, after it registered turnover worth 171m euros.
Rombiz, the fourth biggest retailer, has lower growth expectations. As a result, after it exceeded sales worth 51m euros, through its network of 125 small stores, the retailer expects to register a 15% growth in turnover this year.
While traditional and online retailers forecast at least two-digit growth rates, hypermarkets and cash&carry networks estimate to sustain a volume of around 20-22%.
The weight of electrical home appliances in overall hypermarket network sales accounts for 10% on average, whilst the percentage can rise to almost 20% during holidays and peak periods, when sales tend to reach extremely high levels.
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