Tesco: the preferred place to shop in Central Europe

Tesco is the most preferred retailer in the Central European markets of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. This is the result of the research Shopping Monitor CEE ’07 by Incoma Research and GfK. Twelve per cent of customers in the region – that’s some 7.4mn people – say Tesco is their prime destination while shopping for consumer goods.

The British retailer is active in all four CEE markets and it is the first time Tesco is the most preferred retailer. In recent years discount chain Biedronka (a subsidiary of the Portuguese Jeronimo Martins Group) was the number one, because of its dominant position on the vast Polish market.

Due to last year’s expansion however, Tesco managed to bypass Biedronka, who is still runner up with ten per cent of consumer preference. Strong positions are also built by the German retailer Schwarz Group’s chains Kaufland (hypermarkets – preferred by 5.4 per cent of customers) and Lidl (discounter – preferred by 5 per cent of shoppers). Another German discounter – Plus from Tengelmann – is preferred by 4 per cent of CEE shoppers.

According to the research, cooperative retailers hold a remarkably strong position in Central Europe. Co-operatives are not as integrated like the mentioned chains, but in general co-operative retailers represent the main shopping destination for 8.8 per cent of shoppers in the Central European region.