Bulgaria has gained two spots in the 2010 Global Retail Development Ranking of global consultancy AT Kearney.

It has been ranked 19th out of a total of 30 “emerging markets” by the AT Kearney index research report.

“Bulgaria remains in the early investment phase with a limited number of domestic retailers. Since joining the European Union in 2007, foreign retailers have entered to secure a good market position. Carrefour chose Bulgaria as a key Eastern European market opening its first hypermarket in 2009, and Slovenia-based Mercator soon followed. Germany’s Metro, Schwarz and Rewe groups have shares of 5 to 10 percent each, and are now the market leaders,” points out the AT Kearney report.

Its authors point out that purchasing power in Bulgaria varies widely between the capital Sofia and the rural areas.

“Urban retail growth will be driven by hypermarkets, cash and carry, and discounts, whereas in smaller cities and towns modern supermarkets will succeed,” the analysis on Bulgaria says.

China, Kuwait, India, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil occupy the first five spots in the AT Kearney retail development ranking.

Of the five Eastern European countries included in the ranking, Russia is 10th, Turkey is 18th, Macedonia is ranked 20th, while Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are 28th and 29th.

A.T. Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index ranks 30 emerging countries on the urgency for retailers to enter the country. The scores are based on 25 variables across four primary categories: economic and political risk; market attractiveness; market saturation; and time pressure (difference or addition between gross domestic product and modern retail area growth).

The full text of the AT Kearney Global Retail Index Report can be found HERE