VOL. 32. NUMBER 15 | JULY 26 – SEPTEMBER 5, 2024
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SPECIAL REPORT INSIDE THIS ISSUE
FMCG
GKid E-tail Rankings Shed Light on Evolving Market Kifli topped GKid’s FMCG ranking for the second year in a row as the online shopping service with the highest turnover in the Hungarian market. Tesco was again the runner-up in the FMCG Top 10, while Auchan’s online store came third. 12
Coop Hungary: Local Giant With a Plan Coop has maintained stability even amidst steeply dropping real wages. The domestic giant says it aims to keep it that way by building on Hungarian products, offering auxiliary services to people living in smaller settlements, and harnessing the power of digitalization. 13
Meet the FMCG Pioneer
SOCIALITE
Extraordinary Tale of Music and Hope Roxanne de Bastion’s first book “The Piano Player of Budapest: A True Story of Holocaust, Survival, Music and Hope” is a moving account of the life of her Jewish Hungarian grandfather Stephen, a successful pianist and composer in this country in the 1930s. 21
NEWS
Central Bank Cuts Base Rate Again
SPECIAL REPORT
Martin Coulam, one of the pioneering team set up to manage Tesco’s drive into Central Europe, was hands-on in the Pólus Center when the brand opened in 1996, as he tells us. 11
Although it said rate cuts would stop for a while, the National Bank of Hungary once again reduced its key interest rate at its latest policy meeting on July 23. This was the 15th cut since the reduction cycle started last May. Analysts expect the base rate to stand at 6% at the end of the year. 3
BUSINESS
Prototype Czech-Magyar Electric Midibus Unveiled Hungary’s Ganz and Czech collaborator SOR have showcased the Ganz-SOR EBN8 electric midibus prototype. If serial production is given the go-ahead, the partners could produce 50 units a year. 7