Progresiv Awards, the competition dedicated to the true values of the retail&FMCG markets, has selected the 2022 finalists. These have been selected by the Progresiv Awards 2022 Jury, out of a total of over 200 nominations and self-nominations from the market.
The Council of Specialists analyzed arguments from the competition entries and graded them also according to information available on the market. It is important to keep in mind that nominations that offered relevant, quantifiable data – according to guidelines offered by the organizer for each category – received the highest grades.
Progresiv carries forward the project of identifying and acknowledging the true values in the retail & FMCG market and launches Progresiv Awards 2022, the 7th edition of the industry’s benchmark competition.
Beginning November 24, 2021, we are accepting nominations by companies in a sponsor-free and vote-transparent competition. The Progresiv Awards 2022 categories are:
- Best International Retailer
- Best Independent Retailer (Muntenia, Transilvania și Moldova)
- Best FMCG Supplier
- Best Local FMCG Supplier
- Best New Food Product
- Best New Non-food Product
- Best New Beverage
- Best Vertically Integrated Business
- Best E-Commerce Initiative
- Best Supply Chain
- Best Sustainability Initiative
- Best CSR Campaign
- Best Manager of the Year
- Brand of the Year in Retail & FMCG
We challenge you to be part of the retail & FMCG industry’s elite!
About Progresiv Awards
Progresiv Award started in 2016 out of the desire to showcase people, companies, brands, and success projects from the FMCG market that bring change and add value to the industry, as well as the role of strong partnerships between retailers and suppliers.
Progresiv Awards, the competition dedicated to the true values of the retail&FMCG market, has selected its 2021 winners during the Progresiv Awards Gala held at Face Convention Center, on the night of May 20. Farmec took home three trophies after receiving the highest score at Best Local FMCG Supplier, Best New Non-Food Product, and Brand of the Year categories. HEINEKEN and Sergiana won two trophies each, winning in Best FMCG Supplier and Best New Beverage, and Best Independent Retailer – Transilvania and Best Vertically Integrated Business, respectively.
After a tight batte, Carrefour won the distinction for Best International Retailer, while Paco Supermarkets and Diana completed the category’s circle of winners. The award for Best New Food Product went to La Provincia’s Pui Vegetarian, a product in Carmistin Group’s portfolio, while the Best Supply Chain trophy – a 2021 edition novelty – was awarded to Aquila. As for Best CSR Campaign and Best Sustainability Initiative, the winners were „Cu Apele Curate” – Asociația MaiMultVerde & Lidl România, and „rPET, sticla obţinută din PET 100% reciclat” by PepsiCo.
In the Best e-Commerce Initiative category, the Progresiv Awards trophy was given to Genius by eMAG, while Marco Hoessl, CEO of Kaufland România, won Best Manager of the Year by a distance.
Congratulations to all Progresiv Awards 2021 winners!
Who Voted and How
The voting process is intertwined. As such, winners of Best International Retailer and Best Local Retailer were chosen exclusively by suppliers. Winners of Best FMCG Supplier, Best Local FMCG Supplier, Best New Food Product, Best New Non-food Product, and Best New Beverage were chosen exclusively by retailers. Winners of Best Vertically Integrated Business, Best Supply Chain, Best e-Commerce Initiative, Brand of the Year in Retail & FMCG, and Best Manager of the Year were chosen by the entirety of the retail & FMCG industry. Voting was done through unique links, thus assuring that a person can only cast one vote.
The wait is over! We're announcing the winners of the 2020 Progresiv Awards. It's a project started to showcase successful people, companies, brands, and projects from the FMCG industry, and the pandemic will not prevent us from showing gratitude to those who contribute to the development of the industry and the trendsetters in retail & FMCG. We would have loved and would have been honored to present the trophies during the event you're all accustomed to, but we are fully committed to respecting the decisions taken bu authorities regarding safety measures and are using all Progresiv channels to be close to you.
This year's edition brought 4 new awards categories: Best Retail Tech Innovation, Best New Beverage, Best Vertically Integrated Business, and Best Sustainability Initiative.
The decision to expand the range of categories came after the year-by-year evolution seen in retail&FMCG. To impartially cover all areas of interest, we have decided to also bring new jury members that would focus on CSR and sustainability. Dragoș Tuță, Founder & Managing Partner, The CSR Agency, Dragoș Popa, Senior Project Manager, Roland Berger România, Alina Liciu, Founder & Managing Partner The Azores Sustainability & The CSR Agency, and Dumitru Borțun, Professor at SNSPA all joined the Progresiv team to deliberate on the projects that were nominated for Best CSR Campaign and Best Sustainability Initiative.
Regarding the projects for Best CSR Campaign, we prioritized donations and sponsorships campaigns created by retail & FMCG players alongside NGOs or initiative groups, that contributed to achieving one or more of the 17 objectives of sustainable development set by the UN on its 2030 Agenda.
In the Best Sustainability Initiative category, we targeted business or management initiatives that generated a quantifiable positive impact or reduced the negative impact brought by the company's interaction with its stakeholders: clients, end consumers, suppliers, employees, NGOs, or surrounding environment.
The award for Best CSR Campaign was won by Unilever South Central Europe's campaign „Domestos susține igiena în școli”. As for the Best Susteinability Initiative category, the voters chose Kaufland România's „Consumul excesiv de pungi dăunează grav comunității.”
This year's edition also focused on retail technology projects, one of the new categories included. After the votes were counted, the award for Best Retail Tech Innovation was won by „Supermarketul Inteligent Mega Image”.
As a new feature, Progresiv Awards 2020 has divided the award Best Independent Retailer on a regional basis. In other words, Best Independent Retailer will now be given to players in Muntenia, Moldova, and Transilvania. There's also a new category dedicated to virtually integrated business models, Best Vertically Integrated Business, opened to local entrepreneurs that have developed both production and retail operations by creating or expanding their chain store.
Best Independent Retailer has three winners for this year's edition: Annabella was named Best Independent Retailer in Muntenia, while Paco Supermarkets took the title for Moldova and Sergiana won the most votes for Transilvania. This isn't the only trophy won by the Brașov-based family business, as the company was voted by its business partners as the best example of integrating production and retail. Therefore, the first Best Vertically Integrated Business trophy goes to Sergiana Grup.
Mega Image won the largest number of votes in the Best International Retailer category. As such, although at a small distance from the next finalists, the company takes the trophy for the fifth consecutive year.
The Progresiv Awards trophy for Best FMCG Supplier was won by Coca-Cola HBC, while Cocoșelul de Pădure by Agricola was named Best New Food Product. Farmec won in the Best New Non-Food Product with its Gerovital Men range - "produsele de îngrijire pentru bărbați sub formă de fiole".
In the Best New Beverage category, the winner was Heineken's Strongbow Rose Apple. The beer producer also won in the Best Shopper Activation category for "Zero Zone by Heineken România".
Last but not least, after a tight battle, the winner of the Best Manager of the Year category is Raul Ciurtin, founder of Prefera Foods.
Progresiv Awards had three stages: nominations and self-nominations (by industry specialists), validation of the nominees and selecting the finalists (by the Council of Specialists), and voting. The last stage implied a cross-voting system: the awards for suppliers were given based on the votes cast by retailers, while the ones given to retailers was based on votes coming from suppliers. Voting was only available through unique hyperlinks, guaranteeing that a person can only vote once.
As usual, Ipsos România served as research partner for Progresiv Awards.
The members of Progresiv Awards 2020 Council of Specialists were: Iulia Pencea, Managing Director, Nielsen România, Gabriela Luca, Commercial Director Consumer Panel Services GfK, Alina Stepan, Cluster Head, Ipsos South-East Europe, Sorana Georgia, Director General, Markant International Services România, Cătălina Aldea, Managing Partner Aldea Consulting, Dragoș Popa, Senior Project Manager Roland Berger România, Mihai Bonca, Founder Brand Architects. The Progresiv team was represented by Alina Dragomir, Coordinating Editor, and Mihaela Popescu, Editor In Chief.
We'd like to thank all those involved in this project, the retailers and suppliers that submitted 2019's successful projects, the Council of Specialists, and those that have cast their votes.
Congratulations to all Progresiv Awards 2020 winners!
The Progresiv Awards 2019 competition has announced the winners of the Progresiv Awards Gala held at the Sinaia Casino, on the evening of March 14th, bringing together over 470 retail & FMCG professionals. The only company to take home two trophies was Ursus Breweries, which earned the most points in the "Best FMCG Supplier" and "Best New Food Product" categories, with Ursus Retro beer.
Mega Image won, for the fourth consecutive year, the trophy in the "Best International Retailer" category, while the Annabella network was once again awarded the "Best Local Retailer" trophy.
The winner of the “Best New Non-Food Product” category was the Aslavital Mineralactiv range from Farmec's portfolio. In the "Best Shopper Activation" category, the most votes were awarded to the "Rexona 5.000 de pași pe zi" project by Unilever, while the prize for Best CSR Campaign was obtained by the "Te răcorești și reîmpădurești" project, developed by Bergenbier.
After a very close race, the "Best Manager of the Year" award went to Mircea Turdean, CEO of Farmec. As for the Best Start-up in Retail & FMCG category, the winner was Lăptăria cu Caimac.
In addition to the nine categories submitted for nomination and voting, Progresiv has also decided to offer a special prize called 'Entrepreneur for the Future', which was awarded to Feliciu Paraschiv, the owner of Paco Supermarkets.