The new list is out: Hungary’s TOP RETAILERS 2014

It is June once again so the new ranking – which is based on last year’s performance – of FMCG retailers is being published. Trade magazin, Hungary’s market leader b2b FMCG magazine received the relevant data from retailers and used them to compile the ranking that reveals which retail chains were able to keep last year’s position. It very much seems that retailers have reserved places on the list as there are no changes from last year’s ranking. Although once again METRO, being a wholesaler, decided not to contribute data, all the other 11 retail chains can be found on the list. Their gross turnovers are between HUF 50 billion and 715 billion and all earlier estimations seem to be right: discount stores set the bar high in expansion. In the last twelve months almost 1,000 small shops disappeared – if we look back on the last 15 years we can see that nearly 8,000 of them went out of business – despite that consumer confidence improved and the willingness to buy grew last year. Consumption practically increased, both food and non-food categories were successful, although at different levels. Taking a closer look at retail chains this is what we see: Aldi opened its 100th store last year, Auchan bettered its performance, in part because the retailer opened quite a few petrol stations. CBA is busy separating Príma stores from other CBA shop types. COOP is trying to make customers more loyal by expanding its loyalty programme. Drugstore chain dm stood out of the crowd by offering low prices for longer periods. Lidl was focusing on Hungarian suppliers in the last year. Penny opened new stores last year too. Reál launched a programme aiming at serving customers better. Rossmann’s results improved due to expansion and an increased product selection. SPAR started focusing on franchise partners, while Tesco was preparing for this year’s great restructuring – at the same time putting a Hungarian executive in the managing director’s seat. – In the last quarter of 2014 major regulatory changes entered into force and these made planning for a longer term much more difficult. The first five months of 2015 was also full of surprises – told Zsuzsanna Hermann, Trade magazin’s managing director and editor-in-chief. – But as the saying goes, one shouldn’t be a retailer if they can’t face the challenges with optimism and can’t be optimistic about the future! So retail chains continue their work with persistence, ambition and belief in the future – Ms Hermann added. As for the details of what happened last year and how things are developing this year, you can read more about it in the 6th issue of Trade magazine, which comes out next Monday (you can also read it in digital format at www.trademagazin.hu) and you will be able to discuss it at the Business Days conference between 29 September and 2 October in Tapolca. The list of Hungary’s Top FMCG Retailers in 2014 can be read at and downloaded from www.trademagazin.hu.

Toplista 2014 – pdf letölthető