The Retail Industry in Hungary

Thirty years of retail transformation in V4 countries

Tamás Sikos T. larger European countries. The shopping culture was spread by multinational companies such as the Meinl delicacy, Del-Ka shoe stores (both Austrian), Stühmer chocolate and St. Stephen's candy stores. The Dreher-Haggenmacher brewery has sold its branded products in a number of its own shops or in retail outlets with an exclusive sales contract. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry dealt in depth with the situation of retailers and made noteworthy findings: for several product groups the emergence of cartels and monopolies in the 1930s became a feature. In the milk trade, the captive trade was regulated by a cartel, as was the case for potatoes, firewood, beef, sugar, alcohol, coal and other essential goods. According to the Chamber of Commerce the cartels brought about an increase in the price of basic necessities, which is detrimental to the whole country, not just consumers. During this period, cooperative trade was increasingly present as a significant competitor in the market for each product. The largest and most distinctive cooperative organisation was the Hangya Termelő, Értékesítő és Fogyasztási Szövetkezet [Ant Producing, Selling, and Consuming Cooperative], founded in 1898. Retail cooperatives can be seen as forerunners of retail chains, being the first in England to use self-service (Sikos T. and Hoffmann 2004; Nagy 2005). Their weakness was that membership decision-making did not allow for a greater return of profits to their network development, and therefore they were not really competitors to retail networks. In Hungary, the cooperative movement struggled with similar problems as the English or Swedish ones, and the aggressive compulsion of retail chains to adapt to the changed market conditions remained missing. The potential of Hangya Szövetkezet [Ant Cooperatives] grew rapidly and in 1943 it already benefited from the acquisition by hundreds of millions of pengős. By the end of the Second World War, the capital, together with cooperative shops, had the greatest trade potential in the country in terms of retail trade. By the end of the war, however, much of the commercial channel system had been destroyed. The bombings and direct fighting not only resulted in massive human casualties, but also destroyed residential houses, bridges, rails and, along with them, the infrastructure for trade. With the end of the war, reconstruction also extended to trade. At the end of the war, the retail network also fell under the ruins of the country, especially in larger settlements such as Budapest. The new power was trying to create the conditions for the start of trade, but political motives determined the means. 4.2 From nationalizations to 1989 Accordingly, between 1947 and 1949, the former structure was typical in domestic trade, but by 1950 the liquidation of small shops and the nationalization of larger channels had almost been completed. In the country, wholesale and foreign trade were treated as state monopolies; and in domestic trade, in addition to state ownership, the establishment of cooperatives in the villages began, mainly under the control of SZÖVOSZ. Hungarian trade suffered the harmful effects of centralized management just as much as did all sectors In the 1970s, the 10,000 m 2 Domus Department Store, the 5,500 m 2 Batthyány Square ABC Store, the Flórián Shopping Center in Óbuda, the Skála Cooperative Store, and the Déli Railway Station ABC Store were opened. In the county seats ABCs and home furnishings stores with large floor space were also established. The economic difficulties (1976-1980) also had an impact on the development of retail trade, as the number of public retail stores was lower in 1983 than in (Tab. 4.2). | 78 Tamás Sikos T. However, the rate of retail development in the capital and in rural settlements was unfavorable, i.e. until the Budapest network became more modern, in small settlements nothing happened. Tab. 4.2: Floor space of retail network (m 2) Name 1968 1978 Index (1968=100) Department stores 186 413 222 Grocery stores 1,115 1,708 153 Clothes shops 251 307 122 Chemistry stores 95 102 107 Hardware stores 274 371 150 Cultural goods store 263 396 150 Other specialised stores 52 129 248 General stores 47 485 103

Regional Statistics, 2019

The retail network of in the Hungarian capital has gone through a significant change in the last 30 years. This fundamental change can be explained partly by global processes and is, to some extent, the result of the unique Hungarian or Central European situation – that is, conditions of the Socialist era that were affected by contemporary European tendencies, but the system still had its own peculiarities – and of the regime change. The changes in the last four decades have significantly altered the retail sector in Budapest and the shopping habits of its inhabitants. Quality of life has also fundamentally changed, as have living standards. In addition to the spread of mobilisation, new satellite technologies have brought considerable changes in the field of trade as well. Today, the question is not how close we are to the developed world but how fast we can gain access to suitable services and basic supplies and how these supply chains are organised. In our globalised world, a new form of harmony must be created between globality and locality.

Acta Carolus Robertus, 2020

The retail sector plays a decisive role in the development of urban-rural relations. As it is not only a narrower segment of the population that participates in it and it is a good measure of the central role of cities on a market basis. Our study is part of a broader research project covering the North Hungarian region, where we investigate market access opportunities for local producers through short supply chains. As a basis for the primary research of a greater project we conducted secondary research based on the databases of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. In addition to the number of retail stores, we investigated the possible impacts of changes in population and incomes on demand for retail stores and centres in each city and their surrounding rural areas. In terms of the socioeconomic sense, the region shows a less favourable picture than the national average, which also manifests itself in the lower number of retail units. However, in the region, significant differences can also be observed in the settlement hierarchy and spatial characteristics. There is some duality in the fact that the population per unit of trade is relatively high, but at the same time, the number of units in the examined chain stores is relatively smaller in the region.

KnE Social Sciences, 2020

Retail has evolved a lot in the last years. Still, compared to more mature markets (such as US, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, the Netherlands), retail in Eastern European countries is less developed, with more balanced supply and demand. According to GfK's report on European Retail in 2018, in 2017 there was a slight increase (+1.9 percent) in the purchasing power within the European Union (EU28) countries, Romania having the biggest increase (+7.8 percent) [1]. However, Romania's low per capita purchasing power shows a gap in wealth levels across Europe. Huge differences between Western and Eastern Europe are visible also in terms of per capita values for retail space. Thus, the purpose of this descriptive research study is to analyze and compare how retail has evolved during recent years in Eastern European countries, with the help of several indicators. Data was collected from Eurostat and other industry reports. Results show that in EU28 countries the turnover in wholesale and retail trade has constantly grown (between 2011-2016), trend visible also in Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Per capita sales area increased too (between 2014-2017) in most Eastern European countries. This positive trend is visible also for retail turnover per m 2 of sales area in all countries considered, although there are differences among them (with Bulgaria and Romania ranked the lowest and Cyprus and Greece the highest).

There is a clear tendency for the Romanian retailing to adapt to the requirements of the international market. If in the years following Romania’s adherence to capitalism the indigenous retailing was marked by a strong segmentation in small retail units with low turnover, retail chains were considerably developed. The domestic market began to be penetrated by the first European retail chains in the mid-nineties of the last century. That was the spark of the change, to which many of the players in the retail sector were not able to adapt. During this period one can notice, on the one hand, a decrease in the majority shareholding of state-owned capital in favor of private capital and, on the other hand, a decrease in the value of the public sector and an increase in the value of the private sector. Romania’s accession to the European Union and the removal of customs barriers to the merchandise brought from other member states represented for retailers the long-expected signal of progr...

2010

The paper presents the retail market in Romania, the main retailers and their evolution in our country. The theme is better highlighted in the foreign professional literature, but also Romanian economists analyzed some features of this subject. The purpose of this paper was to examine and interpret how Romanian retailers evolved during the period 2002-2009. A qualitative method was chosen for this research, and the empirical data was gathered from the companies in the Romanian retail sector. Primary data was collected through annual information from their websites, annual reports and different articles. The research is useful for companies, in order to understand and anticipate the tendencies in the field.

Business, Management and Education, 2011

Retail is an important industry of each national economy. In the EU, it is an important source of employment and significantly contributes to the GDP creation. Moreover, almost one fifth of all companies are registered in retail industry. In the past decade, retail industry is changing from applying domestically oriented towards internationally oriented business strategies. The importance of large companies is this industry is growing, too. Retail trade concentration process is recognized in all EU countries. In this paper, some of prevailing trends in retail industry are analyzed and explained. The analysis includes EU countries and Croatia as EU candidate country.

desconhecido, 2011

Os Primórdios da Computação Apesar dos computadores eletrônicos terem efetivamente aparecido somente na década de 40, os fundamentos em que se baseiam remontam a centenas ou até mesmo milhares de anos. Se levarmos em conta que o termo COMPUTAR significa fazer cálculos, contar, efetuar operações aritméticas, COMPUTADOR seria então o mecanismo ou máquina que auxilia essa tarefa, com vantagens no tempo gasto e na precisão. Inicialmente o homem utilizou seus próprios dedos para essa tarefa, dando origem ao sistema DECIMAL e aos termos DIGITAL e DIGITO. Para auxílio deste método, eram usados gravetos, contas ou marcas na parede. A partir do momento que o homem pré-histórico trocou seus hábitos nômades por aldeias e tribos fixas, desenvolvendo a lavoura, tornou-se necessário um método para a contagem do tempo, delimitando as épocas de plantio e colheita. Tábuas de argila foram desenterradas por arqueólogos no Oriente Médio, próximo à Babilônia, contendo tabuadas de multiplicação e recíprocos. Acredita-se que tenham sido escritas por volta de 1700 a.C. e usavam o sistema sexagesimal (base 60), dando origem às nossas atuais unidades de tempo. O Ábaco Na medida em que os cálculos foram se complicando e aumentando de tamanho, sentiu-se a necessidade de um instrumento que viesse em auxílio, surgindo assim há cerca de 2.500 anos o ÁBACO. Este era formado por fios paralelos e contas ou arruelas deslizantes que, de acordo com a sua posição, representava a quantidade a ser trabalhada. O ábaco russo era o mais simples: continha 10 contas, bastando contá-las para obtermos suas quantidades numéricas. O ábaco chinês possuía 2 conjuntos por fio, contendo 5 contas no conjunto das unidades e 2 contas que representavam 5 unidades. A variante do ábaco mais conhecida é o SOROBAN, ábaco japonês simplificado (com 5 contas por fio, agrupadas 4x1), ainda hoje utilizado, sendo que em uso por mãos treinadas continuam eficientes e rápidos para trabalhos mais simples.

La psicología de la Gestalt se inscribe en la tradición filosófica alemana del siglo XIX. Dentro de esa tradición, se cuentan como influencias principales a: Immanuel Kant: La filosofía kantiana se refleja principalmente en el pensamiento trascendental de Kant, que asigna a la imaginación como condición subjetiva y 'a priori' de la penetración, pues el fenómeno es ya una síntesis, una construcción mental, cuya materia procede de los estímulos (sensibilia), pero cuya forma impone el hacer (tun) desde la imaginación, espacio y tiempo, pues, no sólo lo que hay, sino también según somos, según el yo imaginante y pensante. Todo pensar supone al sujeto que piensa (Descartes) y, por consiguiente, la representación no es un simple reflejo. La noción de que la imaginación hace posible el conocimiento sensible, o su trascendental actividad en nuestra "visión" del mundo, fueron ya anticipadas por el asociacionismo de Hume, y mucho antes que por el escocés, por el español Juan Huarte de San Juan en su Examen de ingenios (1575). Edmund Husserl: La fenomenología es reconocida como la raíz teórica fundamental de esta escuela psicológica, debido a su comprensión de la experiencia consciente como una experiencia fenoménica. Tanto en los conceptos fundamentales de la Teoría de la Gestalt, como en sus métodos experimentales, existe la necesidad de comprender la experiencia consciente como vía fundamental para la descripción de los procesos mentales.