Impressive productivity growth in domestic retail trade

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/5.

Recently the boom in energy prices, rising other costs and shrinking purchasing power in retail have reduced the added value of the sector, while the level of employment increased to 504,000, which was a 14% growth if compared to 2010. The end result was a small drop in productivity. Store closures since 2010 – nearly 44,000 stores closed, which was a 31% decline in the number of shops – also boosted productivity, as typically it was small shops with high labour input that closed, while the purchasing power they lost showed up in larger chains. //

We stand out at a European level

Last year retail trade accounted for 11.3% of the GDP in the EU and 10.3% in Hungary. As regards labour productivity in the sector, Romania is in the first place in our region: the Romanian figure peaked in 2012 at 160% and then fell until 2014 (going below 80%), but by 2020 it reached a consistent level of over 240%. The Czech and Hungarian figures are also impressive, with growth at 50-65%. //