A decrease in prices dragged Slovakian turnover down

According to Lucie Hrusová, communications and customer relations director of Nielsen Czech Republic the turnover of hypermarkets in Slovakia fell in terms of both value and volume last year. Discount stores and supermarkets kept up the level of the previous year. In 5.5-million Slovakia retail chains kept expanding: the number of stores larger than 2,500 m² has been growing by more than 10 percent for years.

However, in terms of value Nielsen registered 4 percent lower turnover at hypermarkets. There are two reasons behind this negative trend: shopping tourism and deflation – in the third and forth quarters prices were 3.8 and 4.4 percent lower, respectively. Tesco is on the top of the Slovakian retailers’ list, followed by Metro, Billa and Kaufland; Lidl is also in the first ten, just like CBA Slovakia. FMCG retail sales in Slovakia contracted in volume as well, on an annual level by 2.6 percent in comparison with 2008. Lucie Hrusová pointed out that household chemical and cosmetics sales decreased less than food sales. Private labels’ market share was stable at 18-19 percent.