BHETA’s Romanian trade mission success

BHETA’s Romanian Export drive creates multiple opportunities.

BHETA’s latest export initiative – the November trade mission to Bucharest in Romania – was pronounced a huge success with numbers of commercial opportunities uncovered. Organised in partnership with the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce, which provided a packed schedule of events over the two-day event, the trip involved a mix of UK housewares and home improvement suppliers along with BHETA representation.

The trip kicked off with a presentation from The British Romanian Chambers of Commerce, Romanian legal experts McGregor & Partners, accounts KR Group, data experts, Nielsen Romania and three Romanian retailers, MAM Bricolage, Vivre and Mobexpert. The mission also provided delegates with 1:1 meetings with Romanian retailers to discuss trade opportunities. These included building materials retailer, Arabesque, furniture materials and accessories company, MAM Bricolage, emag, the Romanian equivalent of Amazon, home, gift and lifestyle destination store, Vivre and Mobexpert, the largest furniture, lifestyle and accessories distributor in Romania. Store visits were arranged to enable delegates to gain knowledge of the local market and these included tours of Dedeman and Leroy Merlin.

The British Romanian Chamber of Commerce (BRCC) played a key role in the success of the mission and provides ongoing information and advice for any 2 supplier interested in this area. BRCC’s Madalina Ciinaru commented, “This is a great model which offers much value to UK exporters.” BHETA’s housewares sector director, Will Jones added, “The mission was a great success with suppliers provided with in depth insight into the market over the course of two days. We met with bricks and mortar retailers as well as several online opportunities. It was great to see so many suppliers networking with each other and learning from each other’s export journeys.”

With Romania’s twenty million population and a home improvement (DIY) market worth an estimated 2-3 billion EUR per year, Romania has also seen developing trends in both gardening and housewares. DIY retailers reported a sales growth of up to 30% in 2016 with Dedeman and Arabesque holding 80% of the market share. Home and garden specialist retail chains are a favourite shopping destination with trends increasingly more in line with Western consumers. The country’s economy is set to continue growing and consumers are increasingly demanding convenience and high quality.

Home improvement sector director, Paul Grinsell added, “BHETA is enabling some really positive export initiatives including trade missions such as this and the recent very successful sales push in Slovenia. We have more export events coming up and I really hope to see many members taking advantage of these opportunities.”

Home enhancement sector director Will Jones concluded, “Export can seem daunting for companies not already involved, so it’s great that BHETA can now offer really practical support, alongside the experience of existing exporters amongst the membership who are willing to share knowledge and best practice.”

For more information on current opportunities or export support in general contact BHETA member services on 0121 237 1130 or www.bheta.co.uk/export

Source: BHETA

December 2018