Discounter Lidl has come out on top in a survey ranking the major grocery retail players in Serbia in terms of customer satisfaction.
According to the National Consumers Association of Serbia (NOPS) survey, Lidl received an average score of 4.01, ahead of supermarket chain Maxi (3.93) and hypermarket banner Tempo (3.77), both of which are owned by Delhaize Serbia.
Ranking The Retailers
The top 10 also includes Mercator (3.57), Roda (3.51), Super Vero (3.39), Univerexport (3.30), Shop & Go (3.28) and DIS (3.09).
However, when asked which retailer they visit the most, 27.05% of Serbian consumers gave their preference to Maxi, followed by Lidl (20.63%) and other banners (9.89%).
Consumer Spend
According to a separate study by Nielsen, the average Serbian consumer spends €250 per month on food, household items and personal hygiene, of which €148 goes towards fresh food (+9% year-on-year).
The share of private label in total FMCG expenditure increased from 5.8% in 2018 to 6.1% in 2019, with supermarkets and hypermarkets accounting for 58.6% of total private label sales.
Since the start of 2020, there have been no major changes on the Serbian grocery retail market. After the initial hoarding effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all retailers managed to replenish stocks, while at the same time introducing social distancing and protection measures.
New Openings
Some 14 new stores were opened, of which 13 were unveiled by Serbian retail groups.
Local operator Gomex opened the most new stores (six) - in Lučani (280 square metres), Ribare, Pančevo (250 square metres), Novi Sad (190 square metres), Čačak (248 square metres) and Skorenovac (139 square metres).
PerSu added four new 'mini market' outlets (smaller than 100 square metres) in Nova Pazova, Banatski Despotovac, Svetozar Miletić and Sremski Karlovci.
Univerexport Group added two – in Novi Sad (300 square metres) and Belgrade (570 square metres) – taking its store total to 154, with another new outlet in Belgrade due to open on 28 May.
DIS opened a new supermarket in Gornji Milanovac (550 square metres), but shuttered its biggest hypermarket in Serbia (Belgrade), in line with its strategy of focusing on smaller stores.
Finally, Montenegro’s Domaca Trgovina continued to expand in Belgrade with the opening of another Aroma Market neighbourhood store.
© 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
