Page 127 - SE Outlook Regions 2023

3.10 Real economy - Serbia

3.10.1 Retail

Serbia’s retail trade showed healthy growth during 2022, with retail
trade turnover going up by a real 4.6% y/y in August, according to the
latest statistics office data, speeding up slightly from a 4% increase in
the previous month.

Sales of food, beverages and tobacco increased by a real 1.2% y/y,
while trade in non-food products (except motor fuels) went up by a real
3.8% y/y.

Amid rising prices, the government started to cap prices of basic
foodstuffs in autumn 2021, and has continued to do so, in an attempt to
ease the impact of the cost of living on households. Targeted products
include bread and sugar. Exports of certain products were temporarily
banned.

Lidl has been expanding in Serbia — where it was already a popular
retailer, including for visitors from neighbouring countries — and in
August 2022 opened a new logistics centre in the Serbian city of
Lapovo. The logistics centre is Lidl’s second in Serbia. The retailer also
continued to open new stores during the year.

Fellow international retailer Delhaize is also a major player in Serbia, as
is Mercator-S, part of regional retailer Mercator Group.

Ikea, which entered the Serbian market with its first Belgrade store in
2017, opened a shopping park next to its existing store in Bubanj Potok
in May 2022. The second phase of the retail park development is due to
be completed in 2023.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, in Q3 2022, Belgrade retail supply
reached 580,000 square metres, including seven modern western style
shopping centres with around 307,000 sq m gross leasable area GLA.

“Although the buyers and tourists returned to main pedestrian zones in
Belgrade, which had a significant rebound in footfall traffic, still, there is
an increasing trend of relocation of retailers to new shopping centres or
other retail schemes, since they record a higher footfall,” the report from
the real estate company said.

“In order to remain relevant and meet the evolving consumers’ needs,
retailers started to use different omnichannel models, such as BOPIS
(buy online, pick up in store), selling on the social platforms, launching
an online store, etc. Customer experience became essential, and

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