THE ROMANIAN SWEETS MARKET HAS, FOR A FEW WEEKS, A NEW PLAYER. THE FRENCH PATISSERIES GOURMANDES COMPANY, A BUSINESS THAT’S VALUED AT OVER 130 MILLION EURO, ENTERED ON THE LOCAL MARKET WITH A BRAND OF BISCUITS AND PRACTICES ADAPTED TO THE ROMANIAN SPECIFIC POFTIS. ANA BAZGA, POFTIS COUNTRY MANAGER, WALKS TO RETAIL PROFESSIONALS ABOUT INVESTMENT AND POFTIS PLANTS ON LOCAL PLAN.
Ana Bazga will host, together with Dochita Zenoveiov, a workshop on the need for branding projects in retail within Retail Arena 2018, Tech. Community. Experience. Come listen to them on October 24 and 25 at the Sheraton Hotel! Details, AICI.
„Expansion decision in Romania was the natural course of business after colleagues for 20 years intensively developed the business in France. The export variant came as a natural step, and given the fairly large differences between Western and Eastern European markets, it was necessary to create a distinct brand and identity of Patisseries Gourmades in this part of Europe, because both the habit of consumption and consumption times are very different, “said Ana Bazga.
The investment so far in the Poftis brand amounts to 100,000 euros and has been reflected in market research, product development and branding. “It took more than half a year before we entered the local market, we wanted to be sure there was an opportunity for us and we wanted to get in with the themes we did, to know what we have to do and what the needs of Romanian consumers are. Besides the natural steps to look at some market data and to understand the plane that is happening in the category, one important thing was to see what is consuming in Romania and what are the moments of consumption and I have noticed very different big to France: there are consumed simple products without creams or chocolate. Consumption per capita in France is 8 times higher than in Romania and it was clear that Romanians want something else from the category of cakes and biscuits, “Ana Bazga explained.
In the Poftis range there are currently three types of biscuits and madlenes, with different creams, adapted to the needs of Romanian consumers. The brand recently entered the market is currently in the traditional trade, in some shops in the country, and by the end of 2019 it will be present in all modern trade chains.
About how difficult it is in modern commerce and why it has chosen to launch in traditional retail, country manager Poftis says: “In this category of individually on the go cakes, traditional trade is much higher than the modern one from some natural and namely when you want a snack, you are on a break, on the road, you quickly enter a traditional maga and satisfy your appetite. That’s why there’s basically a big focus on traditional trade because there’s the consumer. On the other hand, in the modern trade the brand image is placed, we can do many activations to bring the consumer to us. Being a brand new is not easy, every point of distribution is gaining hard.”
In addition to entering retail networks and expanding distribution in traditional commerce, the French at Poftis plans to move production in Romania in the long run. For further details about player entry and development plans, watch the Retail Professionals show.
