Romanian retail & FMCG market – For all our readers abroad, these are the most important news from Romanian retail & FMCG market, in January 2026, provided by retail-FMCG.ro, the most read B2B online publication, in Romania, from the retail & FMCG niche.
EXPO RETAIL 2026 – Digital, Green & Tech, the fifth edition of the professional fair dedicated to technology, equipment and services for retail, e-commerce and FMCG industry, that will take place on the 23rd-24th of September 2026 at the Polytechnic National University of Science and Technology from Bucharest, announced the first partners and exhibitors.
Personalized offers for partners at contact@expo-retail.com or tel. +40720120456
Book your stand here: www.expo-retail.com/en/exibitors/
Retail – Kaufland
Kaufland Romania renewed its brand motto and returned to the message ”Cheap and good”, a clear commitment to millions of people who choose Kaufland every day for their shopping.
Retail – PENNY
PENNY continued the expansion of its network at the national level and opened six new stores, of which 2 stores in Curtea de Argeș and in Fetesti, two stores in Lazuri and Uricani, one store in Craiova, and one store in Bacau, reaching 462 units in Romania.
Retail – Auchan
Auchan Romania started the 14th edition of the Coffee and Tea fair, that became a tradition at the beginning of the year.
Auchan Retail Romania will continue in 2026 to expand the ATAC Hiper Discount network, and at this moment, the retailer has 9 stores in Romania on this format with an aggressive policy of small prices.
Retail – Carrefour
Carrefour Romania continued the expansion of the ultra-local producers network, through the project ”From here, closer”, an approach through which the retailer supports small Romanian entrepreneurs and brings their products on the store shelves.
Retail – other retailers
BIPA, the drug store brand of the REWE German group, marked the official entrance on the Romanian market by opening the first store in Romania, in Mega Mall Bucharest.
Nespresso continued the development of its network in Romania and opened a new location in Park Lake Shopping Center, presented under a new pavilion concept.
2025 was a year in which FMCG retail in Romania combined two seemingly opposite movements: on the one hand, the physical supported expansion, especially in proximity and discount formats, and on the other hand, strategic repositioning, through consolidations, acquisitions, pressure on margins, greater focus on small formats and omnichannel capabilities.
Looking at the whole, several dominant themes are clearly distinguished: the integration of Profi into Ahold Delhaize and the creation of a single legal entity for Profi and Mega Image, the acceleration of proximity formats, the emergence/rapid growth of new convenience players, increasingly intense price competition and a major market episode: the announced transaction regarding La Cocos and the Schwarz Group, under the scrutiny of the Competition Council.
These were the most important events in FMCG retail in Romania in 2025
The last financial report showed the clear differences between the main players in cosmetics and perfumery retail in Romania, according to an analysis of Risco.ro.
FMCG
The fermented cheese from De Coltesti is in the 80th position in the Top 100 „Best Cheeses in the World”, according to TasteAtlas 2026.
The Romanian Brewers Association named Boris Miloushev, the General Manager of HEINEKEN Romania S.A., as the President of the association, starting in January 2026.
Having the belief that a positive impact is an objective of the company and of society, Bonduelle Group obtained the B Corp international certification for its operations at a global level.
The Lactalis Group announced that, starting with 1st of February 2026, names Erekle Gamkrelidze as General Manager of Lactalis Romania.
Food Service
Hesburger, the biggest restaurant network with burgers in Finland and one of the most well-known brands of fast food in Europe, invested 1.000.000 euro in the 15th restaurant opened in Romania, in the Cosmopolis residential complex.
Over the past year, consumer behavior in the HoReCa sector has undergone significant changes: consumers react more quickly to what’s new, are more attentive to value, and compare options more than ever before. In this new consumption landscape, restaurants no longer compete solely through products, but through context, conceptual coherence, and the relationship with their guests.
This is just one of the conclusions of the latest edition of the Intimate Roundtable Conversations, an event organized on January 20 by the Hospitality Culture Institute. More than 70 HoReCa professionals attended, joining six special guests to discuss the trends that will shape 2026 and the lessons of 2025—a year marked by volatility, seasonal imbalance, and increasing pressure on profit margins.
E-commerce
Sezamo named Michael Kaiser as Country Lead for Romania. The online supermarket announced that 4 out of 10 shopping baskets contain private label products, based on the consolidation and expansion of the private label portfolio, that overcame the 400 available products in Romania. Sezamo launched MAIA, a new shopping assistant based on AI, created for easier, quicker and less stressful daily food shopping.
Wolt, the local shopping platform that connects users with restaurants and stores in their cities, launched a big global update of the app.
Glovo, the multi-category platform that offers access to a wide variety of products, named Bogdan Meica as General Manager for Romania.
According to the study „Voice of the Consumer: Lifestyles Survey 2025” made by Euromonitor International, over half of the consumers are using GenAI tools, like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Perplexity, for information and recommendations.
In 2025, the consumer interest in online food shopping continued to grow, and Freshful by eMAG registered with 25% more clients who chose to move the recurring acquisitions in digital environment.
EcoBioGreen
The Association 100% for Environment finished the annual update of the Market Register of certified operators in ecological agriculture of agriculturaecologica.ro, based on the public certificates available in TRACES/IMSOC (Information Management System for Official Controls) – the platform mad eby European Commission for official notification, certification and monitoring flows in the sanitary-veterinary and phytosanitary area (and other areas of official control).
Services
MidEuropa, a reference private equity investor in Central and Eastern Europe, acquired the majority package of assets in Romanian Business Consult, an IT integrator specialized in retail, banking and industrial production in Romania.
RetuRO, the administrator of the Guarantee-Return System, the biggest project of the circular economy in Romania, announced the evolution and the results of the program for the period January-December 2025.
FEPRA, the group of companies specialized in circular economy in Romania, announced the consolidation of the executive team and named Nineta Ceaus as Chief People Officer and Ionut Eriksen as Chief Corporate Affairs and Communications Officer, in a key moment of company consolidation.
AQUILA, one of the biggest players in the distribution sector of FMCG in Romania and the region, with over 30 years of experience in this industry, announced an investment of 5 million euros in an advanced solution of automation of logistic operations, in the warehouse from Dragomiresti-Ilfov.
94.1% of the waste reported by the companies from Romania was recycled in 2025, according to the data from Registrul Deseurilor.
Analysis
In December 2025, 59 stores were opened in the local FMCG retail market.
The data from the last financial report indicate differences between the main producers of meat in Romania. Cris-Tim, Caroli, Fox, Diana and Aldis are in top of the sector based on the market share, according to Risco.ro.
After a period with inflation, cost pressures, decreased consumption, quick changes in consumer behavior and many operational adjustments, 2026 seems to be a year of strategic maturation for food retail and for the FMCG companies. It won’t be a year of experiments and unconditional growth, but a year of execution, prioritization and well-calibrated decisions, made based on the market data and reality.
These are the 10 key trends identified by retail-FMCG.ro that will influence the decisions of the food retail and FMCG companies this year.
The industry of bottled beverages and water contributes annually with 3.74 billion lei to the Romanian economy and almost 1 billion lei to the state budget in taxes, but it is one of the most affected sectors by the fiscal laws in recent years. This is the data from the newest study made by the Academy of Economic Studies (ASE) for the National Association for Beverages (ANBR).
Studies
The most recent data from RetailZoom, based on the sales made in the period December 2024 – November 2025, showed that the pet food market in Romania is experiencing a solid growth period, doubled by a visible reconfiguration of the internal structure of the category.
Events
F&B Business Accelerator, a growing program for businesses that develop food products, launched the 16th edition, in a context in which consumers search for more functional, sustainable and lifestyle-adapted products.
Other events for retail
retail FMCG.ro launched EXPO PET 2026 – Food & Accessories, the third edition of the B2B exhibition with products for all categories of pet food and accessories in Romania, that will take place on 23th-24th of September 2025, at the Polytechnic National University of Science and Technology from Bucharest.
Personalized offers for partners at contact@expo-petfood.com or tel. +40720120456
Book your stand here: www.expo-petfood.com/en/exibitors/
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