SPAR Hungary has been a significant player in the Hungarian economy and retail market for three decades now. As one of the biggest employers in the country, SPAR provides jobs to nearly 13 000 people and supports family businesses, producers, and farmers. The company celebrating a jubilee reacts to customer demands by modernising with the advances in environmental and social sustainability. 

 “Over the course of the last 30 years, our company has not only become an important part of the Hungarian economy, but one that has helped shape it. We have contributed to the development of the national economy with over 400 billion HUF, and have supported different social, environmental, sport, educational, and cultural development initiatives with more than 1 billion HUF. We are proud to provide job security to almost 13 000 people whose contributions we are especially grateful for. Our commitment to Hungary is clearly demonstrated through our produce range, with 90% of the products sourced from locally operated companies. It has been a long-standing priority for us to support and help the Hungarian agriculture and food processing industries, as well as bring family businesses and Hungarian farmers into the market,” explained Márk Maczelka, head of communications at SPAR Hungary.

SPAR Magyarország Kereskedelmi Kft. has launched operation in 1990, and the first supermarket was opened in the town of Tata in 1991. During the last three decades, the chain has expanded to have 588 members, due to 647 billion HUF investments made throughout these years. The retail chain has continuously expanded in Hungary and has become a major company in Hungarian retail trade. Last year, SPAR had 381 own-operated stores: 324 SPAR supermarkets, 23 City SPAR supermarkets and 34 INTERSPAR hypermarkets. Important steps of this development also included the opening of the popular franchise units, present in the country in four additional store formats: SPAR partner, SPAR market, OMV-SPAR express and LUKOIL-DESPAR. Compared to 2 stores in the first year, the number of franchise stores has also risen to 207 by 2021, located in 94 different municipalities throughout the country.

Our practices and business policies to support the Hungarian economy have been a priority for a long time. The ratio of SPAR’s domestic suppliers has been between 85%-90% in the last ten years and in 2020 it was 89%. For several product groups, the retail chain exclusively sells goods that are locally manufactured. During the pandemic it is especially important to support and stimulate the national economy. SPAR has shown their dedication, joining a campaign (Vedd a hazait! Védd a hazait!) to encourage customers to buy and protect local products, as well as launching the “Hungaricool by SPAR competition” – a unique initiative to support Hungarian product development.

There are more and more customers doing their grocery shopping through the online shop every day. An investment of 960 million HUF enabled the launch of SPAR’s online shop in 2019. Customers can enjoy the benefits of this across Budapest and in almost 50 towns in the area, as well as in Tatabánya, Kecskemét, Zalaegerszeg and their catchment areas, and a further nine spots in the Lake Velence region located in popular tourist destinations.

In conjunction with the ongoing and significant extension of the store network, the high volumes of meat and meat product sales have laid the ground for the foundation of the Regnum meat processing plant, SPAR’s own factory. Seeing the constantly growing demand, the company has made the decision to expand its production capacity and acquired the Perbál plant unit of ZIMBO Perbál Húsipari Termelő Kft. which operates as Regnum Meat Processing Plant Perbál since 2 November 2020. In 2020, a staff of 368 has worked in the SPAR meat processing facilities. With the transformation of consumer needs, the demand for fast and quality meals has increased, so the expansion of the convenience product range was given a prominent place among the company’s product developments in 2018. In order to support this process, the company has established the SPAR enjoy. convenience plant in Üllő. In just two year, production figures doubled, and the new facility has realised about 3.2 billion HUF turnover during the last three years.

The company has started to introduce own-brand products to the market in 1997, and it has expanded the private label range ever since, presently providing 31 types of own-brand product groups to customers. The retail chain distributes more than 3 600 private-label goods under its own brands, with food products constituting more than half of these. SPAR also focuses on improvements related to maximising customer experience, introduces likeable and practicaly novelties to customers, ensuring that the everyday shopping activities are turned into an experience.

In its first year of operation in Hungary, SPAR employed 50 people. This number has grown to close to 13 000 today, making SPAR one of the biggest employers in the country. At the end of 2020, 97% were full-time employees, with 72% female and 28% male having an average age of 40; and 43% of employees have been with SPAR Hungary for at least seven years. The retail chain rewards the dedication of the employees with competitive salary packages and additional employee benefits. Most SPAR employees are entitled to regular extra benefits; between 2016 and 2020, the company has spent a total of 1942 million HUF on SZÉP Cards, a further 872 million HUF on SPAR gift cards, and 4762 million HUF on employee travel allowances.

In addition to environmental sustainability, SPAR also takes major efforts to contribute to social sustainability, to play an active role in corporate social responsibility. With its nationwide network it can contribute to supporting local initiatives and sends food donations to people in need, in cooperation with its strategic partner, the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service.

SPAR Magyarország Kereskedelmi Kft. has released a 74-page exclusive brochure to mark the 30-year jubilee of the company’s foundation. The corporate scorecard that presents the company’s history and its influence on the Hungarian economy was coordinated by KPMG Tanácsadó Kft., Hungary’s leading audit and business advisory firm. The publication is a research project completed with short analyses, covering all areas of SPAR’s operations and business achievements, from network building, factory site development, and brand expansion, to their corporate environmental, social and employment policies. 

The publication can be accessed on the www.spar.hu/30ev website.

For more information please contact:

Márk Maczelka, head of communications

SPAR Magyarország Kereskedelmi Kft. ∙ 2060, Bicske, SPAR út

Mobile: +36 20 823 7891 ∙ E-mail: maczelka.mark@spar.hu

In the past years, sustainability has become a main driver of the economy with more and more governments, financial institutions and corporates committing to the journey towards Net Zero. But how has the sustainability agenda been affected by a changing environment in the recent months? We asked the question to our expert speakers from BNP Paribas at our webinar on 12th May. This was the third event of the BNP Paribas Sustainable Future Series, launched a year ago, so now there was an opportunity to look back, what has changed since then, how our expectations became real and what to come next.

Alexandra Basirov (Global Head of Sustainable Finance, Financial Institutions Coverage) talked about how the energy transition is approached from investor point of view. Claire Iversenc (Head of Sustainability and Management Team member for Corporate Coverage EMEA) shared her thoughts about how the transition is viewed by the corporate side and how it appears in the client journey. Cécile Moitry (Co-Head of Sustainable Finance Markets) gave an insight into the Social element of the ESG indicators, which sometimes used to be in the background behind Environmental and Governance aspects, she advised on how to set KPIs and how to integrate the S-factor into the corporate strategy.

Our speakers agreed that a great challenge in energy transition is the speed of technology changes. Corporates and financial institutions might have difficulties keeping up with innovation, especially because they have to select relevant and viable projects to get the expected return. Moreover, the pace of the changes has to be quick enough to reach our climate goals, but not too quick, so that society can adapt and we do not generate a social crisis. Interesting to note that most of the clients of BNP Paribas have their transition solution until 2030. Together with regulators, banks will have to take an active part in the play, leading the corporates, educating their clients and employees, and acting in coalition within the industry. The recent stress test of the European Central Bank showed that climate change poses serious threats to the resilience of the financial system, therefore banks will have to make difficult decisions at some point.

To enhance awareness of ESG among employees, BNP Paribas’s experts recommend a top-down approach. Top management has to be active in the communication of the sustainability strategy of the company. The utilisation of a green financial instrument can positively resonate, employees noticing the realisation of the efforts. The learning curve of such a fundamental evolution implies that corporates have to make investments in training and upskilling their employees. With regulators forcing companies to have a better understanding of sustainability, more people within the organisation need to have thorough knowledge this topic.

Björn Claussen (Regional Head of Multinational Coverage at BNP Paribas Central Europe) moderated the event. The next session to be organized in the autumn will focus on Sustainability innovations.

If you wish to receive the recording of the webinar, or pre-register to our next event, please contact Zsuzsa Berman (Regional Head of Communication at BNP Paribas).

In response to new market conditions, Generali – celebrating its 190th anniversary – has set out to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As part of the EnterPRIZE Initiative, the Company helps SMEs with an educational webinar series, as well as a new SME Award. The categories of the award are employee welfare, environmental protection, and corporate social responsibility for micro-communities and the best of each category will be rewarded with a prize of HUF 3 million each.

Some 99% of the European Union’s businesses are SMEs, so the sector plays a significant role in economy. The severe impact of the pandemic, however, has set them major challenges to overcome. In order to maintain their sustainability and effectiveness, companies sought creative solutions and introduced new methods. The latest Generali study confirmed that leaders of local SMEs consider the use of digital devices and promoting digital transformation are more and more important in their journey towards a more effective way of working.

Having the results of the study Generali aimed to promote the economic recovery, revival and sustainable development of SME sector through its free program series. Considering sustainable development the topics of five-part webinar-series were defined on basis of the results of the study, so it responded totally to the specific requirements of SMEs. These online knowledge-sharing seminars, conducted by renowned professionals and business leaders invited by Generali, have shared best practices to prepare the SME sector specifically for the challenges of the future. The webinars covered sustainability, digitization, efficiency gains and also risks for management.

Besides knowledge-sharing seminars Generali launched its EnterPrize Award for which the company expects sustainable projects of SMEs in categories of employee welfare, environmental protection and corporate social responsibility for micro-communities. In the category of employee welfare, the Insurance Company rewards ideas which promote the well-being and development of employees or their families. Another key element of the sustainability programme is environmental protection. In this category, SMEs can apply with any idea which reduces environmental pressures, emissions of harmful air pollutants or covers initiatives aimed to protect nature through renewable energy sources, recycling. As SMEs can also have a big impact on community life in many cases, so in the category of corporate responsibility for micro-communities, applications may cover initiatives which help at local level, through charitable donations or by supporting sports and culture.

Sustainability and technical feasibility are priorities regarding evaluation of the projects. Submission period lasts until 26 May, after which winners will be announced in each category being rewarded with an award of gross HUF 3 million to support the implementation of the programme submitted in their applications. The best ideas will also be presented at the Company’s International EnterPRIZE Sustainability Award.

Last year, global retail e-commerce traffic stood at 22 billion monthly visits, with exceptionally high demand not only for everyday essentials , but also for discretionary items. Today, shopping is one of the most popular online activities worldwide and e-commerce sales are projected to grow to USD 6.54 trillion in 2021. But last-mile delivery is not only growing, it is also fundamentally changing and driving innovation in LCVs, thanks to three main trends:

1. Ultra-low emission zones: The implementation of ever more – and stricter – ultra low emission zones (ULEZs) in cities across Europe is continuously strengthening the business case for the eLCV, and driving rapid innovation in eLCV technology. Companies cannot afford to run the risk of being unable to enter a city centre to conduct their core business activities. Whilst today’s ICE (internal combustion engine) LCVs, which are cleaner than older diesel are petrol models, are still allowed in many city centres, the increasing speed with which new ULEZs are being introduced means that eLCVs are unquestionably the future.

2. Local and sustainable ‘city hubs’: The shift towards e-commerce, growing consumer demand for local products, and increasing pressure to cut emissions (due to widespread concern about climate change and related regulation) are all driving innovation in last-mile delivery logistics. In particular, we are seeing the emergence of new ‘city hubs’ – essentially distribution hubs based on the outskirts of major cities – from which products can be delivered to their final destination. In addition, these hubs increasingly offer opportunities for vehicle charging and act as a service point for the growing number of eLCVs in other sectors beyond last-mile delivery.

3. Big data and digital applications for an optimized delivery process: Real-time insights and information from the LCV are crucial to optimize last-mile delivery fulfilment processes. As a result, leading last-mile delivery companies are increasingly using LCV-generated data to perform predictive analysis as a way of improving their profitability and competitiveness. This is one example of a best practice that can be adapted by other sectors operating LCV fleets.

For more details and the full report about how online shopping boom transforms the industry of LCVs read our blog and download the report from here.