Romanian retail & FMCG market – For all our readers abroad, these are the most important news from Romanian retail & FMCG market, in March 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 – Auchan
The loyalty program MyCLUB Auchan marked 5 years since launch, consolidating its position as one of the most powerful loyalty programs in the Romanian retail.
Auchan Retail Romania expanded the ATAC network, the format with an aggressive policy of small prices, by opening the first super discount store in Drumul Taberei, Bucharest.
Auchan Romania continued its development strategy on the proximity segment and opened the 10th supermarket in DeDeman Ploiesti commercial center.
Auchan Romania and BRD Sogelease announced the expansion of the partnership dedicated to suppliers and transport companies that collaborate with the retailer.
Retail – Carrefour
Carrefour Romania celebrated Women’s Month by recognizing the craftsmanship of artisans who bring good taste to the shelves every day.
Romanians consume 4 times more oranges in the winter than the rest of the year, and citrus fruits overcome bananas in the shopping basket; salmon and dorada fish are also growing in consumption. These are just a few of the winter edition conclusions of the Seasonal Taste Barometer made by Carrefour Romania and NielsenIQ in the initiative Refrigeratos with Good Taste, part of the Act for Good international program.
Carrefour Romania announced Arnaud Dussaix as Acquisition and Supply Manager, starting on the 13th of March.
The Competition Council is analyzing the transaction through which Paval Holding SRL, managed by the Paval brothers, intends to take over the Carrefour network stores in Romania.
Bonapp, the leader app in saving food in Romania, announced a strategic partnership with Carrefour Romania, one of the biggest retail chains in the country, with a network of over 370 stores at the national level.
Retail – Kaufland
Kaufland Romania expanded its national presence and opened the fifth store in Brasov.
Retail – PENNY
PENNY continued to expand the network at a national level and opened a new store in Branceni, Teleorman district, and a store in Leu, Dolj district, reaching 464 stores in Romania.
Retail – other retailers
Froo continued its expansion at a national level by opening stores in Brasov, Craiova and Ploiesti, consolidating its presence in Romania. The retailer marked two important moments on the local market: it opened a new office in Bucharest and reached 200 stores at a national level.
The takeover of La Cocos by Schwarz Group (Lidl and Kaufland) entered the post-transaction phase, after finishing the operations and completely leaving the investor consortium consisting of BERD, CEECAT Capital and Morphosis Capital.
Maxi Pet, one of the most important retailers specializing in pet products in Romania, announced a permanent campaign of discounts for 1000 essential products for pets, available in its physical and online stores.
dm drogerie markt launched the European initiative „Enthuziams for future”, a big project that proposes to transform the individual acts of volunteering into collective inspirational sources.
Żabka Group, which manages in Romania the Froo network, finished 2025 with strong financial results, marked by a net adjusted profit of over 1 billion PLN (almost 230 million euros) and an accelerated expansion of the Polish market and in Central and Eastern Europe.
The drug store network POK launched a new collaboration program for the proximity retail entrepreneurs, named POK Partner.
In an industry where supply chains are becoming increasingly fragile and cost pressures are simultaneously affecting both retail and production, the integrated model of Agroland Group is gaining particular relevance. With operations spanning specialized retail, agribusiness, food production, and animal nutrition, the company is building an ecosystem that increasingly reflects the direction the market is heading: more control, greater efficiency, and a direct link between production and consumption. In an interview given to retail-FMCG.ro, Horia Cardoș, founder and CEO of Agroland Group, explains how this model is evolving and what role it plays in the current market context.
URBANO Shopping & Living, the biggest commercial park in Transilvania, will open on the 21st of May 2026.
FMCG
Tic Tac, the iconic brand of dragees known for its unmistakable freshness, launched Tic Tac Two: two flavors in a dragee, sugar-free.
Inter Conecter, the company from Timisoara specialized for over 25 years in the import and distribution of premium coffee, sweets, and food products, took over the distribution of Kandiz in Romania, the global producer of sweets and snacks with international licences for cartoons and established characters in movies.
PepsiCo launched Pepsi with a raspberry taste in Romania, marking the first innovation of the brand in the taste segment on the local market after more than 20 years.
Bergenbier and the Romanian Football Federation continue the partnership until 2030, consolidating one of teh the most constant collaborations in Romanian football.
For over 11 years, Marlenka Family SRL has contributed to the development and consolidation of the MARLENKA brand on the Romanian market, building a strong network of commercial partners and increasing the awareness of one of the most appreciated premium sweets in the category of cookies with honey.
Heineken launched in Romania the global platform „Fans have more friends!, which reunites for the first time under the same concept the brand partnerships in football, Formula 1 and music festivals.
AQUILA, a leader in the integrated services of distribution and logistics for FMCG market in Romania and the region, with over 30 years of experience in this industry, continued the strategic process to develop its own brands, the company’s portfolio consolidating with over 140 articles.
Olympus Foods Romania, one of the biggest producers of dairy in the region and leader in milk collection from the farmers in Romania, started the construction of a new hall of 7.100 swm surface in the Milk Factory from Brasov.
Food Service
City Grill Group, the biggest network of restaurants with Romanian capital, finished 2025 with a consolidated market share of 90 million euros.
Popeyes opened two new restaurants, one in Suceava and another in Cluj-Napoca, and a new drive-thru restaurant in Iulius Mall Suceava.
A new street food concept, Smash & Strips, specializing in smash burgers, launched in Bucharest in the Theodor Pallady zone, in the back of the ex Policolor platform, on Crivatului street no 80, 3rd district.
Premier Restaurants Romania, the operator of the McDonald’s restaurant network in Romania, launched a new edition of the Open Days campaign.
Burger King opened the first restaurant in 2026 in Urbano Shopping & Living in Floresti, Cluj.
E-commerce
The entrepreneurs from eMAG marketplace continue to develop their e-commerce businesses, with the value of sales generated by the companies owned by women increasing by 22% in the last year.
The Romanians are managing to eat with their life partner more than their European neighbours, according to the results of a Bolt Food study, made in 5 countries (Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine and Poland.
Freshful, the first 100% online hypermarket, announced the acceleration of the development of its complementary service, the online supermarket Freshful NOW, available on the Wolt app.
eMAG launched iZi, the first conversational shopping agent developed in Romania.
Sezamo marked a year since introducing the Marks & Spencer Food products on the platforms, where they have been available since the launch, with over 400 products. Sezamo launched Maia Voice, the new tool that transforms the AI assistant of the platform into a complete conversational experience.
Services
RetuRO, the administrator of the Returning-Guarantee System in Romania, named Adela Smeu as CEO of the company since the 19th of March 2026.
Limitless Cleaning does not offer just cleaning services, but builds and administers an operational management system of cleaning, adapted for retail networks, commercial centers, office spaces, HoReCa units, warehouses and logistics platforms.
NIQ Brandbank, a global top supplier in the digital content for products domain, announced a new strategic collaboration between NIQ Brandbank and GS1 National Data Pool (NDP) to transform the way in which the data for B2B2C products is managed and shared in the retail ecosystem.
Visa, the global leader of digital payments, launched Visa Agentic Ready, a program that supports financial institutions and the partners from the payment ecosystem to prepare for commercial transactions initiated by AI agents.
In Romania, in 2025, 75% of aluminium cans have been recycled, according to the data from RetuRO, analyzed by Every Can Counts.
IPP company, one of the main European suppliers of pallet pooling services for the FMCG market, entered the Romanian market as part of the expansion strategy of the group in Eastern Europe.
Traxlo, the company that connects stores with nearby people to make small paid tasks quickly, launched in Romania through a partnership with Carrefour.
Analysis
Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland and Romania could increase work productivity by almost 10-15 percent by adopting on a large scale the digital technologies, especially software and instruments based on AI, according to the most recent EU RER Report published by the World Bank Group.
The employees in Romania from the retail companies are using between 10 and 40 digital tools and AI assistants daily, significantly more than 10 years ago. The small companies are automating more repetitive tasks to increase efficiency and to optimize costs because, through AI, they save up to 6 days per person monthly in the office work, according to EnterTech 2026 specialists, one of the biggest digital and AI conferences in the country.
Events
The Romanian access to the Asian markets does not represent a barrier anymore, but an opportunity, accelerated by the agreement signed with China for the export of agrofood products, affirmed the entrepreneurs that participated in the newest edition of Intimate Roundtable Conversations, the think tank founded by Hospitality Culture Institute.
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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