Carrefour Romania, which will open a new hypermarket in Cluj-Napoca next month, says it has experienced recruitment problems due to the large number of jobs offered in the region's retail sector.
Cluj-Napoca's first Carrefour outlet will employ 600 individuals and will be located in the Polus shopping centre, which has created around 2,000 jobs in the region in total. Another project under development in Cluj-Napoca is the Iulius Mall, which will include an Auchan hypermarket with 450 employees and a staff of around 2,000 in total.
Five weeks ago the two competitors, Auchan and Carrefour, organised their own job fairs in the city and are set to open their stores one week apart from each other during the middle of next month.
According to the official statistics, the level of unemployment in Cluj county is currently below 3%.
Jacobo Caller Celestino, the general manager of Carrefour Romania, said the network's older outlets have not witnessed any sale slumps this year, despite tightening competition on the market.
"In the next five years, I don't think we will be able to talk about a mature market. As yet, there are many areas with no form of modern trade," added Andreea Mihai, a marketing manager with Carrefour Romania.
The company announced its intention to continue its aggressive marketing campaign in order to maintain its position as market leader in terms of sales on the segment of hypermarkets. Carrefour has recently launched a loyalty card in partnership with the financial institution BRD Finance, which specialises in consumer lending. According to Carrefour representatives, a quarter of payments in network stores are made by bank cards, with the percentage rising.
The company's development strategy also entails a higher percentage of its private label products in overall sales. These products now account for around
