Arrival of Eurospin and Fix Price chains on Serbian market certain – Carrefour considering entry without intermediary

The European retail market is going through a turbulent period and a large number of investment withdrawals are visible, even from markets far more developed than Serbia, said Zarko Grozdanic, editor of the Retail Serbia portal and retail specialist, for Bisnis.rs.

– If we look at our market, we have a lot of uncertainty about the arrival of the Carrefour group. Two years ago, the Greek company Retail and More signed exclusive rights for several countries in Southeast Europe, including Serbia. In addition to their official announcement of their arrival in Serbia, we have representatives of the Carrefour company from France who, during a conversation at the Ministry of Trade, stated that the company is considering entry without an intermediary, which means without a company from Greece. Despite the announcement that the talks will continue, as far as I know, this has not happened. I think we are again in a waiting process and that the company is currently engaged in the sale of its operations, primarily Romania. Even if Carrefour does not want to enter Serbia directly, it can appear through a company from Greece, which has been on the verge of entering Serbia several times – explains Grozdanic.

However, when it comes to other chains, things are a little clearer. Grozdanic says that the Italian Eurospin is coming to Serbia, but that the consumers of his store cannot expect it before 2027 or during 2028.

– I expect the Russian Fix Price to open its first stores in the next few months, but it has a limited range of food products, so I see its arrival more as a new competitor to non-food discounters and drugstores. According to my knowledge, a large Western European food chain is again considering entering Serbia and is currently analyzing the Serbian market. However, one should be careful in making any statements because the same trader has already tried to enter our market several times – he says without revealing exactly which chain he is talking about.

Ministarstvo unutrašnje i spoljne trgovine Republike Srbije

EUROSPIN RETAIL d.o.o. Beograd

FIX PRICE RS DOO BEOGRAD

Ministry of Trade

Eurospin

Fix Price

Retail and More

Carrefour

Cora

Louise Delhaize

Žarko Grozdanić