Mario Cretu, Carrefour: “Proximity and local products are the future of retail in Romania”

“Our role is to offer our customers the best experience. All our initiatives are for the benefit of our customers. One of our projects, which we have been running for many years, is the collection and recycling of the used oil we receive from our customers. Over 3 million litres of used oil have been collected in the last 4 years, and we transform 90 percent of this used oil into biofuel for aviation, and the rest is used in the pharmaceutical industry,” Mario Cretu, Corporate Affairs & Environmental Director, Carrefour Romania said at Retail Forward 2025 organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

Key statements:

• Customers want local producers. 93 percent of our suppliers are local companies. The Carrefour own brand is produced by local suppliers in a proportion of 90 percent. We are currently working with 28 cooperatives in Romania, we are about to open the 29th and we will also open the first organic cooperative in Romania.
• We had a project called “Putting a price on plastic” before the launch of the DRS system, through which we offered customers fruit and vegetables in exchange for the PETs they brought to us. We collected over a million PETs and exchanged around 300 tons of Romanian fruit and vegetables. The important thing is that we created a habit among consumers, which is now also visible within the DRS system, where we have reached 3.5 billion packages collected in 14 months since the system was in operation.
• Retail is not only the largest employer in Romania, but it is also the largest contributor to the country’s state budget through the taxes we pay.
• The guarantee-return system in Romania is the largest in the world at the moment and I consider it a source of pride for all of us. The system is working better and better. Obviously, there were operating problems in the first months and we faced dissatisfaction from our customers, but now things have improved significantly. The system has reached semi-maturity and will break even this year.
• The return guarantee system is a successful example of a public-private partnership in Romania. We should be proud of this system. We were the first to introduce packaging collection through Bringo, but there are other retailers that offer this service. Competition is beneficial for both customers and retailers.
• We need to be resilient. The future of retail is about local. We need to offer customers a service as close to them as possible, either through online experiences or through physical infrastructure and proximity stores. Proximity retail is the future and this is what all investment plans focus on.
• We need to support the local economy. We have programs through which we offer customers products from producers located no more than 50 kilometres from stores. This helps customers have access to fresh and quality goods, but we also help local producers to develop. Proximity and local products are the future of retail in Romania.