Bingo has retained a comfortable lead in the modern grocery retail sector in Bosnia & Herzegovina, according to Euromonitor data for 2019.
The Tuzla-based retailer’s focus has remained on hypermarkets, a format that has provided it with plenty of room for growth.
New openings in 2019 included Živinice, Gornji Vakuf, and Maglaj, giving the retailer more than 200 stores across all formats.
Chasing Pack
Second-placed player Konzum has also continued its expansion strategy, opening 15 new branches and renovating 40 existing stores last year.
As well as expanding in new areas not previously covered (Goražde, Čajnič, Ustikoline, Nevesinje, and Knešpolje), Konzum also acquired a local player with seven outlets in the Goražde area, ending the year with more than 170 stores.
Third-ranked Mercator-BH successfully returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina, as part of the restructuring of Agrokor's retail business, taking over 78 stores previously managed by the Konzum brand.
Results for the first nine months of 2019 reveal 6.9% revenue growth, the highest for Mercator Group in all the markets it is present in.
Other major players in the local modern retail grocery market include Amko Komerc (80 stores), Tropic/moj Market (61) and Best (60).
Modern Retail
Overall, modern grocery retailers recorded strong growth, negatively impacting traditional grocery retailers.
Owners of independent small grocers are using various strategies to stay off the strong competition modern operators, including frequent promotional campaigns and prolonged opening hours.
Private label in Bosnia-Herzegovina is in its development stages, with a low degree of market share and activity.
In terms of format growth, last year, mobile e-commerce recorded the highest levels of growth in the country, followed by e-commerce.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
