Magazine: Retail trade is going upwards, but there are small obstacles

György Vámos
general secretary
OKSZ

György Vámos, general secretary of the National Trade Association (OKSZ) told our magazine that retail sales expanded by 5 percent in 2017 – there has been a sales growth every year since 2013. In certain respects the continuity of this positive trend is more important for retailers than the size of the annual growth. There were many factors contributing to this good performance: economic growth, GDP increase, government measures and a low level of inflation.

Since 2016 the workforce shortage has been causing problems in the sector. 2017 brought a more than 10-percent salary increase. However, small retail enterprises don’t have enough revenue to cover the costs of raising salaries. The number of shops kept decreasing at a national level last year. Mr Vámos opines that it would be very important to modernise the technology used in shops, in order to stay competitive. He stressed that certain government steps, such as cutting the social security contributions to be paid by employers can contribute to smaller retail enterprises staying in the business. In 2017 OKSZ joined forces with the Federation of Hungarian Food Industries (ÉFOSZ) and Branded Goods Association Hungary to represent the interests of the sector.

OKSZ intends to continue working together with the ministries, in order to improve regulations and solve practical problems in retail trade, for instance that of trade education. Mr Vámos calculates with further sales growth in the years to come, but the growth rate is likely to be smaller than it is now. Online sales will probably develop faster than the average, so it is a good thing that FMCG chains are launching their online shops. //