BIPA starts great expansion: Romania becomes the first foreign offensive!

BIPA starts great expansion: Romania becomes the first foreign offensive!

bipa, the largest drugstore chain in Austria and a subsidiary of the German Rewe Group, is planning a spectacular expansion to Romania. The opening of the first drugstore in Romania is planned for the first quarter of 2026. According to BIPA-CO managing director Andreas Persigehl, "a double-digit number" of new locations should be added annually. In the long term, the opening of "hundreds" branches in the Romanian market is conceivable, which underlines BIPA's international growth strategy. In order to implement these expansion plans, a “three -digit million amount” is invested, although the exact sum for the drugstore chain was not quantified, vienna.at .

The Rewe Group has already founded a subsidiary to set up the new Bipa brand in the Romanian market. Due to 19 million inhabitants, the Romanian market offers considerable economic potential, which makes expansion for bipa particularly attractive. From June 1, 2025, Martin Gaber will lead the Romanian subsidiary, which previously held management-technical positions in well-known companies such as Marionnaud in Austria and Rewe International in Italy and Slovakia. The plan is first to gain a foothold in Romania before looking at additional countries, as in romania-insider.com

price reductions in Austria

At the same time, Bipa plans to reduce prices for over 300 articles in Austria by an average of 10 %. These price cuts include both own brands and branded products and result from the sunken energy costs of the manufacturers. The changes correspond to a strategy that has become necessary in 2022 and 7.8 % in 2023 in view of the record inflation figures of over 8 % in 2022 and 7.8 %. Further price reductions are planned for the coming months, which illustrates the reaction to the changed economic situation in Austria.

bipa was founded in 1980 and currently operates 566 branches in Austria. Bipa has been active in Croatia since 2007 and has 141 shops there. The list of successes is remarkable: between 2021 and 2024, sales in Austria increased by 25 % and even 72 % in Croatia. In the previous year the chain crossed the billion sales, which shows its stability and performance.

market conditions and competitive environment

The development of the Romanian market is also seen in the context of the competitive guides, which companies like DM with a market share of 26.8 percent in Germany. DM has made significant investments in new branches and logistics centers in recent years, which represents a further competition in the field of drugstores. At the same time, it shows that DM is constantly expanding its presence in Germany with over 2,130 branches and offers extensive customer services, such as express deliveries or around the clock, which are accessible around the clock, such as on food practice.de is reported.

The upcoming expansion from Bipa to Romania is a crucial step that will increase the geographical reach of the brand as well as to further stability and growth of the Rewe group.