Nine years after the arrival of discounter Lidl, private label brands have managed to snatch a 22 per cent share of the Croatian retail market.
According to local daily Poslovni Dnevnik, before Lidl, the share of private label products stood at just two per cent, before rising to eight per cent in 2011.
In some categories, such as milk and dairy products, the share of private label products in Croatia now stands at 40 per cent.
The head of Croatian retail market leader Konzum, Darko Knez, has pointed out that private label used to be considered a 'cheap alternative', as the price difference with branded products topped 10 per cent, but today amounts to only two to three per cent.
Local market consultant, Drago Munjiza, said there are almost no retail chains in Croatia, with perhaps the exception of KTC, where private label brands do not account for at least 25 per cent of sales.
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
