The Retail Industry in Hungary

Abstract

In this report we present an overview of the retail sector in Hungary. Hungary’s retail industry had already been lagging behind its Western counterparts, and the gap widened even further due to the socialist economic policies prevailing after World War II. After the transition, the nineties brought new opportunities for making up for all those years, mainly as a result of liberalized legislation. From the beginning of the nineties, the in-store retail industry simultaneously witnessed small-size retail units becoming autonomous and the opening of department stores and business centers where supply appeared in a more „concentrated" form. By the mid-nineties, this trend was further strengthened by the appearance of hypermarkets and shopping malls. The various forms of non-store retail had also started to develop after the transition and managed to win the trust of consumers – only to lose it again rather quickly. By now, as a consequence of these processes, the retail industry has been restructured, the range of products they offer has been expanded and also enriched by new entertaining/catering elements.