Retail in Frontier Markets in Southeast Europe: Three Key Trends for 2026

August 2026

This report covers the retail sector in frontier markets in Southeast Europe. Euromonitor International’s definition of the region includes the following countries:

USD 2,450
Request More Information

Delivery:

Files are delivered directly into your account soon after payment is received and any tax is certification is verified (where applicable).

This report comes in PDF.

Overview:

Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Retail industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.

Key trends are clearly and succinctly summarised alongside the most current research data available. Understand and assess competitive threats and plan corporate strategy with our qualitative analysis, insight and confident growth projections.

Data and analysis in thsi report provides detailed qualitative analysis for the folloiwng regions, with detailed quantitative analaysis provided for all indivdiual countries within the regional groupings:

  • The Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
  • Frontier Markets in Southeast Europe – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia
  • Central Asia and the Caucasus – Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan
  • Frontier Markets in South Asia – Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka 
  • Frontier Markets in Southeast Asia – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar
  • Central America and the Caribbean – Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica
  • Frontier Markets in South America – Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
  • Frontier Markets in the Middle East and North Africa – Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Tunisia
  • Frontier Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa – Angola, Cote d Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, Tanzania, Uganda

Data and analysis in this report provides further detailed coverage dedicated to the following key categories, where applicable:

  • Grocery Retailers
  • Non-Grocery Retailers
  • Retail E-Commerce
  • Direct Selling
  • Vending

If you're in the Retail industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina, our research will help you to make informed, intelligent decisions; to recognise and profit from opportunity, or to offer resilience amidst market uncertainty.

The Retail in Bosnia and Herzegovina report includes:

  • Analysis of key retail trends
  • Detailed segmentation of histroic retail value sales by channel
  • Company and brand market shares (retail value sales)
  • Five year forecasts of market trends and market growth
  • Robust and transparent research methodology, conducted in-country

This report answers:

  • What is the market size of Retail in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
  • Which are the leading retailers in Retail in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
  • How are products distributed in Retail in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
  • How is the rise of e-commerce and the expansion of modern grocery retail impacting traditional retail?
  • How significant are discounters and private label in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
  • To what extent are sales shifting towards digital channels?​
  • What is the long-term outlook for bricks-and-mortar? ​
  • How is macroeconomic and political uncertainty affecting the retail industry?​
  • What types of retailers are seeing the fastest growth in digital sales?​
  • What is the future of retail?

Retail in Frontier Markets in Southeast Europe: Three Key Trends for 2026

Frontier Markets in Southeast Europe: Overview
Chart 1 Retail in Context 2025
Chart 2 Retail in the Context of Eastern Europe in 2020-2025
Retail in 2025: The big picture
Chart 3 Retail Sales 2020-2030
Grocery retailers continue to drive regional market growth
Chart 4 Retail Channel Breakdown by Country 2020-2025
Retail e-commerce emerges as the fastest-growing channel across Frontier Markets in Southeast Europe
Chart 5 Retail Breakdown by Channel 2020-2025
Value-driven retail stores and convenience formats strengthen their position
Omnichannel retail and digital integration accelerate across the region
Retailers strengthen focus on local products and domestic suppliers
Fortenova under pressure as Schwarz and IKEA reshape the regional retail market
Chart 6 Top 10 Retail Companies 2020-2025
Sales growth concentrates around valueled retailers in the Frontier Markets of Southeast Europe
Chart 7 Top Companies by Sales Growth 2020-2025
Schwarz Group strengthens its regional position, outpacing Fortenova
Chart 8 Grocery Retailers: Top Companies 2020-2025
Retail expansion meets digital convenience across the Balkans
Chart 9 Non-Grocery Retailers: Top Companies 2020-2025
Serbia strengthens its position in regional retail e-commerce networks
Chart 10 Retail E-Commerce: Top Companies 2020-2025
Diverging paths in Southeast Europe: Herbalife maintains its presence while Natura exits the region
Chart 11 Direct Selling: Top Companies 2020-2025
What next for retail?
Chart 12 The Evolution of Retail 2020-2030
Chart 13 Absolute Growth by Channel 2020-2030
Serbia and Croatia are expected to remain the region’s dominant retail markets
Chart 14 Retail: Country Sizes and Growth by Channel 2020-2030
Grocery retailers remains the most important retail channel across Frontier Markets in Southeast Europe while e-commerce drives future growth
Chart 15 Retail: Channel Sizes and Growth by Country 2020-2030
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Chart 16 Bosnia and Herzegovina: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2025
Chart 17 Bosnia and Herzegovina: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2025 and % CAGR 2020-2025
Chart 18 Bosnia and Herzegovina: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2025
Chart 19 Bosnia and Herzegovina: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2025 and % CAGR 2020-2025
Chart 20 Bosnia and Herzegovina: Company Shares of Retail E-Commerce 2025
Chart 21 Bosnia and Herzegovina: Company Shares of Direct Selling 2025
Croatia
Chart 22 Croatia: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2025
Chart 23 Croatia: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2025 and % CAGR 2020-2025
Chart 24 Croatia: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2025
Chart 25 Croatia: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2025 and % CAGR 2020-2025
Chart 26 Croatia: Company Shares of Retail E-Commerce 2025
Chart 27 Croatia: Company Shares of Direct Selling 2025
North Macedonia
Chart 28 North Macedonia: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2025
Chart 29 North Macedonia: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2025 and % CAGR 2020-2025
Chart 30 North Macedonia: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2025
Chart 31 North Macedonia: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2025 and % CAGR 2020-2025
Chart 32 North Macedonia: Company Shares of Retail E-Commerce 2025
Chart 33 North Macedonia: Company Shares of Direct Selling 2025
Serbia
Chart 34 Serbia: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2025
Chart 35 Serbia: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2025 and % CAGR 2020-2025
Chart 36 Serbia: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2025
Chart 37 Serbia: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2025 and % CAGR 2020-2025
Chart 38 Serbia: Company Shares of Retail E-Commerce 2025
Chart 39 Serbia: Company Shares of Direct Selling 2025
Slovenia
Chart 40 Slovenia: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2025
Chart 41 Slovenia: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2025 and % CAGR 2020-2025
Chart 42 Slovenia: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2025
Chart 43 Slovenia: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2025 and % CAGR 2020-2025
Chart 44 Slovenia: Company Shares of Retail E-Commerce 2025
Chart 45 Slovenia: Company Shares of Direct Selling 2025

DISCLAIMER

Retail

Retail is the sale of new and used goods to consumers from a business for personal or household consumption from retail outlets, kiosks, market stalls, vending, direct selling and e-commerce. Retail is the aggregation of Retail Offline and Retail E-Commerce. Excludes specialist retailers of motor vehicles, motorcycles, vehicle parts. Also excludes fuel sales, foodservice sales, rental transactions, wholesale sales (e.g. Cash and Carry), and sales through cannabis dispensaries in markets where cannabis is sold legally. Sales value excluding or including VAT/Sales Tax. Retail also excludes the informal retail sector. Informal retailing is retail trade which is not declared to the tax authorities. Informal retailing encompasses (a) sales generated by unregistered and unlicensed retailers, i.e. retailers operating illegally, and (b) any proportion of sales generated by a registered and licensed retailer that is not declared to the tax authorities. Unregistered and unlicensed retailers operate predominantly (although not exclusively) as street hawkers or operate open market stalls, as these channels are harder for the authorities to monitor than permanent outlets. Activities in the illegal market, which is usually understood to refer to trade in illegal, counterfeit or stolen merchandise, are included within our definition of informal retailing. Activities in the “grey market”, which is usually understood to refer to trade in legal merchandise that is sold through unauthorized channels – for example cigarettes bought legally in another country, legally imported, but sold at lower prices than in authorized channels – will be included as informal retailing if no tax is paid on sale by the retailer. However if the retailer pays tax – for example on cigarettes bought legally in another country but sold at a lower price than standard – the sale is included within formal retail.

See all of our definitions
Share:

Why buy this report?

  • Gain competitive intelligence about market leaders
  • Track key industry trends, opportunities and threats
  • Inform your marketing, brand, strategy and market development, sales and supply functions

This report originates from Passport, our Retail research and analysis database.

NEW REPORT GUARANTEE

If you purchase a report that is updated in the next 60 days, we will send you the new edition and data extraction Free!