Geanina Ungureanu, CPI Property Group: In 2024 we are still in a year of consolidation

At re:Focus on Retail, Couriers and Logistics 2024 conference, Geanina Ungureanu, Head of Retail at CPI Property Group, revealed that the company remains in a period of consolidation and investment to align with ESG standards. The upgrading of shopping malls and common spaces in the retail areas also continues. Romanian consumers remain loyal to spending time in the mall, especially as they now have areas where more people of all ages can hang out.

”CPI Property Group is a name I try to bring up more and more, because people don’t know it, yet, very well. In 2022 we became CPI and we manage the Immofinanz properties, i.e. the Vivo malls, the Stop-shop in Botoșani and Felicia Iasi. More recently we also took over the Sun Plaza portfolio in Bucharest and the Novotel hotel. In 2023 was a year of consolidation of the group because we managed all these three portfolios, it is a large portfolio and office, almost 250,000 square meters in Bucharest, and retail is somewhere around 250,000 sqm, divided between Bucharest, Cluj, Constanta, Baia-Mare and others. We had good figures both on traffic and turnover in the malls, with an occupancy rate of 97-98% and we started 2024 more optimistic than 2023”, said Geanina Ungureanu.

”In 2024 we are still in a year of consolidation. We’re going to have some opportunities, but also some challenges with the area of rising prices, spending and the effort to stay within the budget we promised. This year looks to be a much more stable year in terms of energy and gas prices, the utilities side which has been very strange over the last few years, both legislatively and in terms of prices, that we didn’t know where we were headed. This year we will also have to align ourselves with the directives of the CPI group, namely the ESG side, sustainability and major investments in this direction. Especially because we have had the shopping malls for over 10 years and learning on the technical and sustainability side is important. In addition, we believe that shopping malls are areas of socialization and regionalization; we have noticed that this trend of regionalization is an aspect that we have to focus on all the time. Of course, 2024 has also come with the digitization side, and marketing colleagues are trying to keep up with all these new challenges, customers want new experiences all the time. Marketing remains relevant in the traditional way, the way of organizing events for friends and family, but it goes digital and online as customers want it to.

We are preparing to invest a lot, both on the CAPEX side to go in the ESG direction, with a part in the refurbishment area, an area in which we have already started in Cluj, we continued in Baia Mare. We continue to think about the refurbishment of the food courts, which are no longer those uniform, white ones, now everything is going towards individualisation plus the airport style kiosks, some glass islands. We are getting rid of such fountains, which are not easy to maintain, and turning them into pop-up magaine or relaxation areas. Sun Plaza will follow with a refresh and we will have these improvements in all our malls.

The main customer behaviour is not changing as much as it seems, it depends very much on the prices. You can see that there are effects of inflation, of increased prices on all categories, but otherwise the sales figures remain optimistic, they are above inflation. This year we hope that inflation will not be so high either. Consumer behaviour has remained constant though, for us in retail it is obvious that people will continue to come to the mall, there are attractions for all age groups, even the time spent in the mall has been extended. I mean it’s not just the cinema anymore, but also exhibitions, interactive spaces, instagrammable places, more attractive food courts, places for sports and play. And we hope this consumer behaviour will continue,” concluded Geanina Ungureanu.