Distribution company Serpico Trading has budgeted a 30% increase in its business, to 5.2 million euros, and will concentrate on strengthening its current portfolio in the next few years, almost entirely made up of products imported from the European Union (EU). Company representatives say they will continue to focus on proximity stores, which they think show promise for a future in the EU. "With one exception, all our foreign partners are from the European Union, so we have decided not to invest in producers outside of it due to the customs duties," said Gabriela Simion, national sales manager and partner of Serpico. The strong increase in customs duties in the 1994-1995 period has led the company to drop its partnership with foreign suppliers and shift to local ones. Later, the strategy adopted by the company partners was to choose suppliers exclusively from the EU, both due to the successive drops in customs duties for imports from the community market and to the imminent Romanian integration into the Union. Serpico plans to expand distribution countrywide, both through modern and traditional retail channels. "I have a lot faith in the proximity store, so that it will in no way disappear once major international retail chains expand to Romania. I've noticed the proximity store is trendy again in Western European countries," Gabriela Simion added.
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