The consumption habits of Romanians changed considerably during the pandemic and, apparently, many of them remained so. This is why giants like Carrefour, Cora, Lidl and Kaufland have to adapt to new practices.
Surprisingly, many Romanians have got into the habit of ordering a wide range of products online. Even those who have not adopted this model want to be considerably more efficient when shopping. Automatic cashiers have gained more and more followers and large hypermarkets they can only make investments to adapt to new consumer preferences.
What’s happening to Cora, Auchan and others, because of the customers
Hoping to improve the efficiency and profitability of many of the hypermarkets in Romania, the administrators are looking for a wide variety of solutions, looking to change their business model. Money no longer just comes from off-the-shelf products, not even from afar.
Cora, for example, reduces the surface area of some of the hypermarkets and fill the remaining space with branded stores. Auchan is evaluating the possibility of converting part of its space inside the store into a logistics space for home deliveries.
Beyond these, however, there are significantly more radical solutions. “A residential project can be considered on the additional land. For example, in the studios, in the case of Cora Lujerului’s land, an office project would also work well, but the office market is now complicated, so residential seems like a better bet.” says a real estate consulting executive. The official refers to the very large parking lot in the courtyard of many hypermarkets in Romania, a very valuable additional land in the current real estate market.
In short, the reality of the retail market in Romania is increasingly complex, and the final customer dictates the direction in which the shops go, regardless of whether we are talking about neighborhood supermarkets or suburban hypermarkets of the city.
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