Corner store shopping costs

Snacks and products bought on impulse, such as soft drinks, yoghurts, and confectionery are 17-30% more expensive in small convenience stores than in supermarkets or hypermarkets, reveals a ZF analysis based on prices of 15 of the best selling products in such stores.

In Bucharest, a market that accounts for around 30% of local FMCG trade, i.e. around 6-7 billion euros, there are currently around 1,000-2,000 small convenience stores and mini-markets, around 130 supermarkets and 18 hypermarkets, according to data from retailers and market research companies.
"The price difference between a small convenience store, and a supermarket or a hypermarket mainly has to do with margins: the sales volume is much lower in a mini-market, so the operator needs to cover its fixed costs through a higher mark-up," explains Marius Caluian, general manager of market research company MEMRB Romania & the Republic of Moldova.
Although big retail chains have changed the face of Romanian retail over the last five years, small merchants such as operators of small food stores and mini-markets still hold 50% of the market.