Retail trade; repair of personal and household goods

Overall employment in retail trade may be expected to grow still in the next couple of years. The main trend behind this development is the ongoing expansion of the retail network where investors begin to focus on smaller towns and remote regions of the Czech Republic that still show a large growth potential. Consumer demand on the part of Czechs should further increase and, along with the rising standards of living, it should also experience a qualitative growth. 

Over the long term, employment is expected to decline slightly. This will be the result of expansion of internet trading, loss of interest in low skilled jobs in retail trade and futher consolidation and concentration of retail chains. Moreover, jobs in retail trade will be more frequently filled by foreign nationals. However, the labour market may face problems even in this case. The reason is that it is difficult to make a long-term prediction of the employment of foreigners, since it depends on legislative factors and the situation in the source countries of labour migration. For example, Slovak workers who now account for a large proportion of employment in retail trade may gradually return to their country due to positive economic growth and rising standards of living.

Retail trade in the CR will continue to be influenced by the trend of large-format outlets and shopping centres that will eliminate employment in small shops, particularly in remote regions of the country. Due to the nature of their activities (i.e. advanced logistics and work organisation vs. lower labour skills and cost requirements), traditional shops will not increase their labour requirements too much. On the other hand, the development of internet trading and the increasingly intensive efforts to adjust products to meet individual customer needs will increase dependence of enterprises and employees on ICT, and requirements for employees’ flexibility and adaptability will grow. Closer cooperation with wholesale trade, logistics and manufacturers is also expected ; fully integrated supplier-customer chains will become more frequent.  The role of the internet as an information  as well as shopping instrument (i.e. the link between the consumer, trader and manufacturer) will become enormously important. A further increase in the importance of advertising and its targetting at more specifically defined customer groups is also expected in retail trade.

As part of these new trends it will not be so important to enhance the skills and qualifications of ordinary employees. Improved skills will be most needed at lower and middle management levels that involve a high degree of responsibility.

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