Romania’s Flanco Q1 sales jump 40% y/y

Flanco’s sales were mainly driven by stores located in shopping malls and retail parks, the company said in a press release.

"For the current year, we aim to expand our store network, but also modernise existing stores and digitalise them by implementing electronic labels,” Flanco CEO Dragos Sarbu said.

To support its objectives, Flanco has allocated 20 million lei - its largest investment budget to date, Sarbu added.

Top performing products which doubled in sales in the first quarter compared to last year include smartwatches, automatic espresso machines and headphones. Smartphones, care products, small household appliances, gaming consoles and 4K TVs also performed above market growth.

Conversely, large household appliances and IT products were among the segments that did not maintain growth rates, due to higher purchase rates during the pandemic and a significant easing of consumer credit, which no longer supported the sale of goods with a longer life span.

The retailer plans a 20% annual growth in turnover for 2023, relative to a slower market pace, which is estimated at 3% to 8% growth, at the most.

Tallying over 1,500 employees, Flanco is currently operating a network comprised of 158 stores across 113 Romanian cities, five of which were opened in the first quarter of 2023.

(1 euro=4.9298 lei)