10-Year Anniversary of OMV Spar Express Stores in Hungary

It was ten years ago in the fall of 2013 that OMV Hungária and SPAR Hungary opened the first OMV Spar express in Budapest, at the gas station on Fehérvári út, in the capital’s District 11. Currently, there are 87 Spar express stores nationwide in Hungary, and approximately 20 million people shop at the stores every year.

On an average day, nearly 70,000 people visit the OMV Spar express network stores throughout the country. Visitors to the service station typically continue to choose the supermarkets in the morning and late afternoon, and a third of them also fill up their tanks in addition to making a quick purchase. The busiest periods are on public holidays, when the number of customers increases by up to 30% due to the mandatory closure of most stores.

The most popular categories in terms of sales are non-alcoholic chilled drinks (especially energy drinks), dairy products and fresh baked goods – for example, more than 15 million pieces of Caesar rolls have been sold in the last ten years. Most of the products were sold at the filling station at the BAH junction in Budapest, while in rural areas, the most popular were the wells in Szentendre, Fót, Dunaharaszti and Győr. The store network generates almost half of the revenue in Budapest and a quarter in the rural cities. In the capital, they have a significant market share in FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) categories.

"Over the last 10 years, we have been steadily expanding our OMV-Spar network and we are pleased to see that the turnover of our stores is growing year on year. Our goal is to offer more convenience services at our service stations, including fast and efficient shopping in addition to premium fuel, sandwiches and coffee," Tibor Balogh, Managing Director of OMV Hungária said.

The Spar express stores in OMV outlets are owned by OMV and offer the same range of products as Spar stores of similar size. The supermarkets offer almost 3,000 products in 40 product categories, including locally baked goods, fresh food, dairy products, basic household items, fresh fruit and vegetables.