ROMANIA: Mega Image to expand nationwide through partnerships with local retailers | Progresiv

Belgian retailer Mega Image is currently working on a pilot project in partnership with independent retailers through which it wants to reach regions in the country where it doesn’t intend to open its own stores. "We cannot talk about a franchise, because we will not actually put our banner on these stores, but there will be a mentioning, somewhere in a corner, that they Mega Image are partners. For them the benefits are at the level of know-how, products and competitive market prices. At this moment there are three pilot stores, but before the roll-out we want to be 100% sure that we explored all aspects and we have solutions to problems that may arise. The initial results are encouraging and we will take a decision before the end of the year", said Vassilis Stavrou, the new CEO of the company, exclusively for Progresiv magazine.

He also said that the project is part of its national expansion plan that will be implemented over the next three years. "We began a journey with which we want to take over leadership in the regions in which we operate, and Bucharest is the first of these. Here we already have a market share of 28%, and now we are looking towards other areas where we can replicate this experience. We must ensure that where we go we are doing it with the right concept and the right number of stores and that the level of competition will allow us to grow. We already started to do this in Constanta and Brasov, but Romania is a big country and we already have a list of targeted cities, towns with similar characteristics as the Capital in terms of  trade structure, shopper profile and lifestyle”.

Delhaize Group currently operates a chain of 442 stores, of which 203 Mega Image supermarkets, 203 Shop & Go proximity stores, one AB Cool Food frozen food store and two Gusturi Romanesti units. In financial year 2014, the company reported a turnover of 2.81 billion lei in Romania.