Romania

In 2020, Romania’s annual real GDP contracted amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the health crisis, the government adopted fiscal and monetary measures to support the economy. Additionally, inflation moderated, due to falling oil prices and ...

The COVID-19 crisis hit hypermarkets harder than other modern grocery retailing channels in 2020. Initially, hypermarkets benefited from their large space and extensive product offer, as consumers looked to stock up on large amounts of essential ...

Direct selling in the Romanian market remains concentrated on the beauty and personal care segment, primarily through Avon and Oriflame, and is largely focused on female consumers. The emphasis on beauty and personal care products helped direct ...

The growth of health and beauty specialist retailers during the COVID-19 crisis was underpinned by the good performance of chemists/pharmacies and drugstores/parapharmacies. These stores were deemed to be essential and were, therefore, allowed to ...

Food and drink continues to account for a considerable proportion of Romanian consumers’ household expenditure. Indeed, the challenging and uncertain economic environment resulting from the COVID-19 crisis increased many consumers’ focus on spending ...

Supermarkets performed well during the COVID-19 crisis as the channel benefited from the strong locations of its outlets in downtown areas and crowded neighbourhoods, and its extensive coverage of first and second tier cities. Allowed to remain open ...

The department stores channel was not present in Romania in 2020 and is unlikely to emerge in the market over the forecast period....

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant negative impact on electronics and appliances specialist retailers in 2020, with a serious reduction in foot traffic due to store closures and consumer concerns about exposure to the novel coronavirus. Stores ...

COVID-19 pandemic and measures introduced to limit the spread of the disease had a considerable impact on home and garden specialist retailers in 2020. However, there was a significant contrast in the performances of home improvement and gardening ...

Traditional grocery retailers saw an improved performance in 2020 compared with the previous year. During the COVID-19 crisis, traditional grocery retailers benefited from the fact that grocery outlets remained open under lockdown conditions while ...

The decline in sales registered by homeshopping in 2020 was a continuation of the negative performance seen in 2019. In both years, the channel suffered from increased competition from e-commerce. In 2019, e-commerce proved more capable of satisfying...

Convenience stores benefited from grocery outlets being allowed to stay open throughout the COVID-19 lockdown and consumers being allowed to leave their homes to purchase grocery products. Moreover, the channel saw its growth in 2020 supported by the...

The apparel and footwear specialist retailers channel was severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. All stores were forced to close for two months during the state of emergency. Moreover, while stores in stand-alone locations were allowed to reopen ...

Overall, retailing maintained a positive performance in Romania during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was primarily due to the fact that grocery retailers account for the greatest proportion of retailing sales and remained open throughout the pandemic ...

Discounters was the most successful modern grocery retailing channel in the Romanian market in 2020. During the COVID-19 crisis, discounters benefited from providing convenient outlets located near consumers homes and competitive pricing. As in the ...

In common with overall e-commerce, mobile e-commerce benefited from changes to consumer lifestyles and behaviours and restrictions on the operations of store-based retailing during the COVID-19 crisis. Mobile e-commerce had a strong platform from ...

E-commerce was already on a steep upward curve in Romania prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 due to the strong penetration of the internet across the country, the high level of ownership of smartphones, laptops, tablets and PCs and the increasingly ...

Variety stores remains a niche area of retailing in the Romanian market and the performance of the channel during the COVID-19 crisis was primarily reliant on the activity of the dominant player, Studio Moderna SRL, and the penetration of its Top ...

The warehouse club channel was not present in Romania in 2020, and is unlikely to emerge in the market over the forecast period....

The marked decline in vending sales seen in 2020 resulted from restrictions imposed in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdown measures involved restrictions on consumer movement, as well as the closure of shopping centres and ...