The sales of the German Rewe Group on the Romanian market exceeded one billion euros in 2006, witnessing a 34% growth compared with 2005. Rewe Group, the third-leading player in food retail in Europe, posted the highest business growth rate in Romania out of all the 13 countries in which it operates. The Romanian market generated almost one quarter of the sales made by the German group in Eastern Europe, where it has a total of around 700 stores in 8 different countries.
The German Metro group, the first international trade network to have entered the Romanian market (in 1996), was the first retailer to have surpassed the 1 billion-euro market in Romania in 2004. Rewe entered the domestic market in 1999 with the Billa supermarket chain and later introduced the cash & carry division Selgros and the discount stores XXL Megadiscount in 2001.
The Romanian subsidiary of Rewe Group is currently ranked fourth in the group (excluding Germany) after Austria, Italy and France in terms of sales. Rewe officials were not able to provide any comment on the subject by the time the story was ready for print.
The divisions through which Rewe operates in Romania, Billa (supermarkets), Selgros Cash & Carry, Penny Market and XXL (discount stores) had a total of 65 outlets at the end of last year compared with 47 in 2005. The group currently owns more than 30 discount stores, 23 Billa supermarkets and 17 Selgros stores.
Rewe Group has more than 130 million euros in investments planned for the Romanian market for this year, in order to expand its store network.
Selgros Cash & Carry Romania, the biggest Rewe division on the domestic market, operating 13 outlets at the end of 2006, posted 611 million-euro turnover at the end of last year, an increase of 34% on the previous year.
The company opened 2 stores outside the capital in 2006 and will total 16 locations by the end of 2007, as a result of 45 million-euro investments. Another company of the Rewe Group, Billa Romania, the biggest supermarket chain on this market, reached an expansion rate of 8 to 10 stores a year in 2007 compared with an expansion of 1 or 2 stores in its first years of business.
The sales of Billa Romania reached 250.4 million euros in 2005 generated by the 18 operational stores. Last year the company opened four supermarkets following investments worth 22 million euros, so that its network reached 22 stores at the end of 2006. Billa was the first international supermarket network on the domestic market.
The last division Rewe brought to Romania was the discount store network Penny Market, which opened its first store in July 2005. Penny Market had a total of 25 locations at the end of 2006, a year which saw the opening of 9 outlets.
Rewe Group is operating with only one brand on the discount retail segment, after having rebranded the five XXL Megadiscount (to Penny Market XXL), which have a 2 or 3 times larger area than the regular Penny Markets. Rewe will invest approximately 50 million euros in building 30 more discount stores and a warehouse this year.
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