Retail Industry

Austrian Retail Sector Shows Resilience Amid Economic Challenges

Despite ongoing economic uncertainty and cautious consumer spending, Austria’s retail sector has demonstrated stability and moderate growth. According to the latest WIFO & HV Economic Report, the sector achieved a nominal sales increase of 2.7% in 2024, closely matching previous forecasts. While inflationary pressures have eased in some areas, rising energy costs and declining consumer confidence continue to shape spending behavior.

February 18, 2025

Richard "Mörtel" Lugner: Vienna Mourns the Loss of a Dazzling Entrepreneur and Society Star

Richard Lugner, known as "Mörtel", has died at the age of 91 in his villa in Döbling. As one of Austria's best-known entrepreneurs, Lugner shaped the cityscape of Vienna and the Austrian commercial landscape for decades.

August 12, 2024

Signa-Retail Company Lamarr Declares Bankruptcy

The highly anticipated Lamarr Kaufhaus project on Mariahilfer Straße in Vienna, set to include a flagship department store and hotel, has filed for bankruptcy. This development comes as a significant blow, as the project, originally slated for completion in 2025, has faced financial turmoil. The insolvency was confirmed by the Creditors' Protection Association KSV 1870 on Friday.

February 4, 2024

No More Masks in Retail: New Covid Rules in Vienna

Recently, the Ministry of Health announced a significant relaxation of Covid-19 measures in Austria. The mask requirement in stores will be dropped, and the green passport for triple vaccinated people will also be extended. Read on if you want to know what will change for you and in which stores you still can't do without the mask.

April 15, 2022

Vienna's Mayor Ludwig: "Pandemic has not yet been mastered"

Mayor Ludwig announced that Vienna will keep some of the COVID-19 measures in place despite the federal government lifting many of them. Read which measures still apply in Vienna and what the mayor and health experts said about it.

February 21, 2022

Vienna is Becoming the Start-up Capital of Austria

Vienna's start-ups generated an added value of 3.9 billion euros in 2021, making it the most popular place in Austria for start-ups. Read more about the start-up environment in Vienna and what it has done for the Austrian economy.

February 9, 2022

"Golden Sunday" Returns: Austrian Non-Food Retailers Allowed to Remain Open on December 19

In an attempt to recoup some of the billions of euros retailers lost out on due to the lockdown in the middle of the holiday season, the Austrian government has announced that non-food retailers will be allowed to remain open on Sunday, December 19 for what is known as "Golden Sunday." Learn which stores the exception applies to and when you can do some last-minute Christmas shopping on Sunday.

December 17, 2021

Luxury Goods Group: Swarovski Drops Further in Ranking

The famous Austrian crystal glass manufacturer Swarovski has fallen a further 3 places on the global ranking of luxury goods sales. The company's sales also halved between 2017 and 2020 from 3.5 billion euros to 1.7 billion euros. Read about Swarovski's decline in sales and the general downturn in the luxury goods industry.

December 8, 2021

Full Lockdown in Austria: These Rules Apply from November 22 to December 12, 2021, Inclusive

An Austria-wide lockdown for everyone, including those vaccinated, has again been in effect in Austria since Monday, November 22, due to the dramatic Corona situation. The updated key points in detail.

November 23, 2021

Covid in Austria: Lockdown From Monday, Immediate Tightening of Measures in Vienna

Chancellor Schallenberg and Health Minister Mückstein have announced a nationwide lockdown for Austria beginning Monday. As of February 1, 2022, vaccination will be mandatory in Austria. Additionally, Vienna has announced a tightening of COVID-19 measures effective immediately. Read about the upcoming lockdown and the new measures in Vienna.

November 19, 2021

Mayor Ludwig Announces Mask Requirement Remains in Vienna

Mayor of Vienna Michael Ludwig announced that, due to an increase in COVID-19 cases, masks would still be required in shopping and retail stores in Vienna. This decision comes despite an easing of COVID restrictions by the federal government.

July 22, 2021

Swedish Digital Platform Sellpy Launches in Austria

The e-commerce platform for selling second-hand fashion has now also been launched in Austria, following Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany. As a result, Sellpy, which is part of the H&M Group, is now active in four countries.

February 3, 2021

Massive Drop in the Austrian Service Sector Turnover in 2nd Quarter of 2020

The service sector experienced a major decrease in turnover by 27.9% less than in the same timeframe of the previous year. The sectors "accommodation and gastronomy" and "other economic services" like travel agencies declined at the most.

September 3, 2020

Austrian Retail Association - Handelsverband raises alarm: every year 560 million Chinese parcels reach Europe without import VAT

More than 10 percent of Austrian retail sales are already generated online, which corresponds to around € 6.8 billion. The problem: half of this online turnover does not arrive at the domestic market, but flows abroad. Particularly problematic is the crossborder business with Asian traders and platforms, especially from China. Currently, 560 million parcels per year are sent to the European Union via Alibaba (AliExpress). 97 percent of these shipments are completely dutyfree and VATfree in the EU and a large part of the remaining 3 percent, at least without import duty.

December 21, 2017

Insolvent DIY Chain BauMax Ended Its Operations

Insolvent DIY chain BauMax ended its operations completely on Friday with many stores sold to Obi of Germany. Seven stores did not attract a buyer. Some 700 employees in total are at risk of losing their jobs.

October 30, 2015

Niki Lauda Acquires Stakes in Benko's Real Estate Firms

The private foundation of former Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda will acquire 1% of Signa Prime and a 10% stake in Signa Retail.

July 17, 2015

Billa Invests EUR 100 Million in Bulgaria in Next Years

Supermarket Chain Billa plans to invest some 100 million euros in Bulgaria and to open around 40 new stores.

April 10, 2015

Spar to Relaunch "Huma” Shopping Park in Vienna-Simmering

The starting signal for building work to turn the HUMA Shopping Center into probably the most modern shopping center in the capital has already been given in December 2014. A shopping center with more than 90 shops, restaurants, catering outlets and services, 2000 free parking spaces and 800 jobs is being built at a traditional location in Vienna-Simmering on a gross leasable area of 50,000 square meters.

February 17, 2015

New Owner E-Tec Brings DiTech Back Into Business

The brand DiTech has been purchased after the bankruptcy by the Upper Austrian Computer Dealer e-tec. Now the newly established DiTech Electronic GmbH starts operations. The first stores open already at the beginning of September.

August 29, 2014

Tengelmann to Launch Online Gardening DIY Chain in Austria

The German online gardening DIY chain GartenXXL, a subsidiary of the Tengelmann group, is setting up in Austria. The range of offered products includes over 20,000 products from brands such as Gardena, Fiskars, Bosch or Kettler. The products shall be offered via gartenxxl.at. After successful launching in Austria, GartenXXL intends to expand to other countries in CEE/CESEE.

July 22, 2014

Austria: Creditors of DiTech Faced With Total Losses

The Austrian computer equipment retailer has filed for insolvency proceedings at the end of March.

May 12, 2014 · Updated: May 13, 2014; 10:55

Amazon Gets New Warehouse in the Czech Republic

US-based online retailer Amazon will get a warehouse in the EIA informationsystem in the Černovická terasa industrial zone in Brno.

May 12, 2014

German Retailer Metro Faces Massive Losses in CEE

Sales in CEE declined 14.8 percent last year for German retail and wholesale enterprise Metro Group.

May 9, 2014

Austria DIY Chain BauMax Avoided Insolvency

Austrian leading DIY chain bauMax announced cost saving programs as part of its restructuring measures in Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia. BauMax intends to focus on profitable business locations only.

May 9, 2014

Romania: BRD Group Societe General with High Expectations

The Romanian lender intends to increase its lending by four percent in 2014.

April 23, 2014

Industrial Location Austria Losing Attractiveness

Among other things, labor costs and energy prices are too high, according to the Austrian Federation of Industries.

April 16, 2014

Poland: Banking Industry Expects Improvement in Results

The Polish banking sector expects net profits to increase in 2014.

April 3, 2014

DiTech: Insolvency Postponed

Heavily affected computer equipement trader DiTech has to postpone filing for insolvency proceedings, which was planned today at the Commercial Court in Vienna.

March 14, 2014

Austria: DiTech to be Taken Over by Investor

Insolvent computer equipment trader DiTech is supposed to be taken over by a German investor with Polish roots.

March 13, 2014

Wifo: Economic Recovery Lacks in Momentum

Economic growth in the Eurozone is still without a major drive. In Austria too, economic recovery is still restrained.

March 11, 2014

Austria: Computer Trader DiTech Declares Insolvency

Viennese hardware computer trader DiTech has slipped into insolvency.

March 10, 2014

Austria: Unemployment Rate Rises Once Again

Once again the unemployment rate in Austria saw a significant rise. More than 440,000 persons were registered jobsless in February.

March 3, 2014

Bulgaria: FDI Keeps Increasing

FDI (foreign direct investments) increased by € 1,229.4m in Bulgaria in 2013 while equity capital came at € 953.4m last year.

February 18, 2014

Wifo: Recovery Continues

Early indicators by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (Wifo) point to a gradual recovery of the economy both in the European Union and in Austria.

February 11, 2014

Serbia: Moderate Economic Growth in 2013

According to the release of the Serbian Statistical Office, GDP is estimated to have grown 2.4% in 2013.

January 2, 2014

Austria: Slight Economic Growth

The Austrian Institute for Economic Research (Wifo) has forecast an increase of the macroeconomic production by 0.2 percent in real terms compared to the previous quarter.

November 14, 2013

Slovenia: Significant Decline in Business Confidence

Sentiment indicator lower than in the previous month In October 2013 (-13 percentage points) the sentiment indicator was 1 percentage point lower than in September 2013 (-12 percentage points).

October 28, 2013

Amazon to Open Distribution Centers in the Czech Republic

The world’s largest online retailer Amazon plans to create 10,000 jobs in the Czech Republic within the next three years.

October 22, 2013

Poland: Amazon to Establish Three Logistic Centers

Leading online retailer Amazon will open three major logistic centers in Poland. According to the company’s own proclamation, this step does not relate to the latest striking problems in Germany.

October 8, 2013

Czech Republic: No Foreign Exchange Interventions

As the Czech economy shows first signs of recovery, the Czech National Bank (CNB) decided against further monetary instruments.

September 27, 2013

Czech Republic: Recession Is Not Managed Yet

This year, the Czech GDP is expected to contract by 1.1%, the Czech Ministry of Finance forecasts.

September 26, 2013

Poland Leads Ranking of Top Enterprises in CEE

Credit insurance company Coface has for the fifth time published a study about the Top 500 enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe.

September 24, 2013

Poland: Warsaw Stock Exchange to Introduce WIG30

The new index covers thirty enterprises instead of formerly twenty and reduced the dominance of the banking industry.

September 23, 2013

Head of Slovenia’s Chief Bank Arrested

Janko Medja, manager of Slovenia’s most important bank NLB, was arrested because of suspicion of corruption.

September 20, 2013

Romania: Austrian Investors Demand Transparency

In an interview with Business Review Romania, Rudolf Lukavsky, commercial counselor for Romania and Moldova at the Austrian Embassy described the downsides and advantages of the economic environment in the country.

September 17, 2013

Spar: Growth Plans In Czech Republic

Retailer Spar has lost a total of € 130m in the past eight years in the Czech Republic. Despite of that, the trade chain has plans of expansion. Particularly the network of frachise stores is supposed to grow.

August 30, 2013

Retail Trade: Sharp Decrease in Slovenia and Romania, Poland

Volume of retail trade down by 0.5% in euro area Down by 0.3% in EU27.Poland and Romania register strong growth rates.

August 5, 2013

Slovenia: Economic Sentiment Stabilizes

This year, Slovenia will not be able to leave the recession behind. However, the economic sentiment begins to improve in some sectors.

August 5, 2013

Spar Becoming More Profitable

Spar made profits before taxes in the amount of € 164m last year with food, sport articles and shopping center floor space.

June 27, 2013

Spar: Expanding in Hungary

Spar Austria Group intends to expand the meat plant near Budapest and the entire branch network in Hungary.

April 18, 2013