Useful articles about franchising in Bulgaria

Despite information about franchises in Bulgaria is scarce and difficult to find (at least, it was before our arrival) we can find several articles and webs which could be useful for those of you interested in having more information about this topic.

Information is power, so let’s go:

History

Bulgaria Country Commercial Guide FY2001: Franchising Market

Factbook

In this article dated on 2001 we can find a good briefing about the situation of franchising in those years. It is a good option if you want to know more about the development of the sector. However, the most interesting part in the history of franchises in Bulgaria starts in 2006, with the opening of the two first shopping centers in the country (Mall of Sofia and City Center, both in Sofia).

BULFA (Old website)

There are several good articles in the old website of the Bulgarian Franchise Association, concerning the first franchises which entered into the bulgarian market and general information about the country. The page was last updated in 2002.

Nowadays

Bulgaria–bullish on franchising: Bulgaria’s franchise market is still mostly unexplored and untapped

By Miroslava Marinova, research analyst at FRANdata.

A very good article, containing some of the most interesting topics about franchising in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria – Franchising

Please, note this link goes to a .doc file (Doc type of Microsoft Word)

US Commercial Service

In this short but good article we can find the most well-known brands and the best developing sectors concerning franchises.

BULFA - Current site

And last, but not least, the current website of Bulfa. Last year they organized a seminar (”Franchising days in Bulgaria”) and they are preparing an event for the next september. Currently, the website needs a lot of work in order to improve the information availability, but it is an interesting site. We hope they start updating more frequently.

So, that’s all by the moment. We hope to be able to find more information for you in the future, and if someone of you is interested in sending us more data we would share with the rest of the people.

Our business consists in reaching the most of people with the biggest amount of relevant information, we are not interested in hiding nothing!

Image: Gordasm

Franchises in Bulgaria: the report

Here you can find the most complete documentation about franchising in Bulgaria. 

• The first franchises appeared in Bulgaria in the 70s, but was in the mid-90s when the industry began to develop more strongly.
• Today, franchising is becoming the trend in some sectors, such as in the real estate agencies.
• In many sectors are already present major franchises (or chains that do not use franchise) international, which has not avoid the continued existence of some fairly strong local franchises.
• Despite the above, a large portion of the population is still unaware of this system, in part because of the limited information available.
• The franchising information is scarce and is highly fragmented. The data offered by the Bulgarian Association of Franchises (BULFA) are not very up-to-date and there is an Internet portal or a magazine specializing in the style of other countries that combine a reliable register of the master franchise available in the country.
• BULFA is undertaking initiatives in this direction, but there are still significant efforts to   do, therefore, there is a market for niche publications, consulting firms and Internet portals interested in getting a development of the franchise save to a level closest to that of other European countries.
• A large part of the master franchise is in the hands of Greek companies.
• The attraction of Bulgaria has increased a lot with its entry into the European Union, which attracted more investment and franchising. In the next few years will continue installing important chains of the most renowned brands.

First Part: Coffeehouses

 

Second Part: Fast Food

 

Third Part: Commerce

 

Fourth Part: Services

Retail in Bulgaria

Retail in Bulgaria

As a first overview at the number of stores and the industry in which they operate. The latest figures on retail trade who supplied the National Statistical Institute (NSI) correspond to 2006. According to their data, the distribution in stores would be as follows:

Non durable goods	Year 2006	%
Non-specialized stores	32.215	77,00%
Bakery	2.338	5,60%
Sweets shops	2.037	4,90%
Vegetables	1.955	4,70%
Beverages	1.839	4,40%
Butcher shop	1.079	2,60%
Fish shops	394	0,90%
Total	41.857	100,00%

Source: National Statistics Institute of Bulgaria. http://www.nsi.bg

The non-durable goods shops are mainly non-specialist shop, which usually have a small selection of the most typical products such as fruits, vegetables, canned products, oil, sugar, etc. The concept of neighborhood store, small and with a broad timetable, is widespread in the country.

Fuente: Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Bulgaria. http://www.nsi.bg

In the consumption of durable goods shops, the most numerous are the clothing stores, followed in importance by non-specialized stores and pharmacies. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, in the period 2005-2006 more products that have increased their sales have been those related to the automobile sector, telecommunications, televisions and radios, computers optimal, computers and household appliances.