Trade: Romanians spent about EUR 40 billion in 2024 in large retail chains, up 7.1pct y-o-y

Romanians spent approximately EUR 40 billion in large retail chains in 2024, which is 7.1% higher than in 2023.The 2024 growth rate marked a slowdown compared with 2023 (+11.1% from 2022), but remained above inflation, according to the Romania Retail Snapshot 2025 produced by the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consultancy company. The study is based on the financial results of 123 retailers doing business in Romania across 13 different segments.The major food stores continue to account for the largest share of spending - EUR 4 billion, or 60.3% in the total. However, this segment only recorded a 5.2% increase in sales, below the 2024 annual inflation rate of 5.6%.The second-largest share pertained to DIY stores (EUR 4.3 billion, 10.9%), a segment followed by Electro IT (EUR3.6 billion, 9.1%) and Fashion (EUR2.5 billion, 6.2%). The lowest spending was related to Entertainment - a segment included for the first time in the latest edition of the report.According to the report, jewelry (EUR 237 million, 0.6%), Footwear (EUR 410 million, 1%) and Cosmetics (EUR 569 million, 1.4%) were also among the segments with a lower spending share in the overall shopping basked in Romania across 2024.All retail segments recorded higher y-o-y turnovers in 2024, with the largest increases being reported by the Cosmetics (24%), Specialised Stores (20.6%), Home & Deco (16%), Footwear (15.5%), Food & Beverage (14.9%) and Kids & Toys (13.5%).The lowest growth rates in 2024 vs 2023 - and below inflation - were reported by Entertainment (+2.1%), Sports (+3.6%), DIY (+5%) and Food Stores (+5.2%). Notably, 9 out of the 13 analysed segments reported sales growth above the 2024 inflation rate.The 13 segments are Food Stores (major hypermarket/ supermarket chains), Fashion, DIY, Sports, Footwear, Kids & Toys, Jewelry, Home & Deco, Food & Beverage, Cosmetics, Electro-IT, Entertainment and Specialised Stores.Together, the 123 retailers have more than 7,000 stores in Romania, located mainly in shopping centres, retail parks and commercial galleries."Our study illustrates a shift in Romanian consumer behaviour over the past year. While spending on food and on daily living remains high, a higher overall growth rate has been recorded by non-food products. This is a positive signal for the retail market, especially as most non-food segments from our study reported double-digit growth, indicating strong potential for operators looking to expand in Romania. Additionally, our country is among the EU member states which reported significant retail growth at the beginning of this year, with non-food products up 5.8% in real terms. Based on these indicators, developers continue to expand their retail portfolios, with around 700,000 sq. m of retail spaces being in various stages of development and scheduled for delivery between 2025 and 2030, " according to Head of Research, Cushman & Wakefield Echinox Vlad SaftoiuThe compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2019 and 2024 (10.9%) of the analysed retailers exceeded the average annual inflation in the same period (7.4%), with the highest CAGR being recorded by Cosmetics (19.2%), Specialized Stores (19.1%) and Food & Beverage (16.4%) operators.The turnover increases reported by the large retailers were sustained both through expansions and organically, due to a clear surge in sales in physical stores and of the significant online presence of most operators.These expansions were the direct result of the investments made by developers (in shopping centres and retail parks) who delivered approximately 340,000 sq. m of modern retail premises between 2024 and H1 2025, consisting of both new schemes and expansions/ major refurbishments of existing ones.Cushman & Wakefield Echinox is a leading real estate consulting company on the local market and the exclusive affiliate of Cushman & Wakefield in Romania, independently owned and operated.Cushman & Wakefield is a leading global commercial real estate services firm for property owners and occupiers with approximately 52,000 employees in approximately 400 offices and 60 countries. In 2023, the firm reported revenue of USD 9.5 billion across its core services of property, facilities and project management, leasing, capital markets, and valuation and other services.The report was drawn by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox Research based on data published by the Ministry of Finance and the National Institute of Statistics.