Foreign markets – Croatia – Where traditional shops are still able to grow

According to a study by Nielsen, titled ShopperTrends, supermarkets dominate the food retail of Croatia (a market of 4.5 million consumers), as 69 percent (up from 49 a year ago) of consumers spent the most money on food, household chemicals and cosmetics in supermarkets. The network of discount stores is in an early stage of development – only 4 percent of consumers spent the most money on daily goods there. – The store structure is rather fragmented in Croatia: in early 2009, 10,104 stores awaited shoppers (discounts not included) – says Ivan Junakovics, Nielsen’s customer relations manager in Croatia. Kiosks also sell FMCG products; their number is stable above 3,000. The number of 101-300 m² shops is increasing, together with their market share. Seven years ago there were only 4.3 hypermarkets per 1 million inhabitants, last year this increased to12. Croatian-owned Konzum is the biggest retail chain, with 700 stores in different channels and an annual turnover of HRK 12.8 billion (about HUF 470 billion). NTL group is a purchasing association that involves several chains, the biggest is Kerum (up for sale in January).As for multinationals, Slovenian Mercator recently bought the company Getro; German group Schwarz is represented by Kaufman and Lidl. Spar, Rewe, drogerie markt and Metro are also present.