Map of the Month - August

This month’s map depicts retail turnover growth in the 27 EU countries from 2007 – 2009 (data source: GfK GeoMarketing, GfK Retail Location Guide Europe, 2008).

Our map reveals that retail turnover growth is higher in Central and Eastern Europe than in Western Europe. The Baltic states and Turkey particularly stand out with growth rates in excess of 22 percent.

While impressive, it’s important to place these strong growth rates into context: Even a minor increase in the retail growth of western European countries is economically more significant than the much faster growth in the still-developing economies of Eastern and Central Europe. Many expanding companies are nonetheless attracted by these countries’ above-average retail growth, despite the associated risks and often lower total retail volume.

But there are also Western European countries such as Scandinavia, Ireland and Spain, which - despite being comparatively established markets - have a growth rate well in excess of the average of 5.3 percent.

GfK GeoMarketing annually publishes its GfK Retail Location Guide Europe, which provides a compact overview of the latest economic figures for hundreds of retail locations across Europe. Some of the information provided includes GfK Purchasing Power as well as profiles of the population, economy and retail structure and development. This data can also be purchased for individual locations or countries.

Download the map in high-resolution .TIF format (10 x 15 cm) here (approx. 0.5 MB).

The map may be freely distributed and reproduced if the following attribution is included: “Illustration: GfK GeoMarketing”.

Additional illustrations can be found in our online press section at
www.gfk-geomarketing.com/en/gfk_geomarketing/press/map_of_the_month.html