Romanians have been buying more, chosing the lower price segment in H1 (GfK)

The consumer goods market saw a 12 per cent increase in the first half of the year compared with the first half of 2019, in the context in which the Romanian households bought by 9 per cent more in terms of volume, choosing the lower price segment, according to a survey of GfK made public on Monday.

"The health crisis and, implicitly, the restrictions in recent months have led to changes in the buyer's behaviour, so that the frequency of visits to the store has decreased by 6 per cent, and the average amount paid per trip to the store has increased by almost 20 per cent," the survey shows.

Discount stores are the big winners of modern trade. Thus, with an increase of 37 per cent in value compared to January - June 2019, discount stores surpass the supermarkets and become the second player in modern trade in terms of market share in value. In the same period of 2019, the growth rate was twice as low and they covered only 16 per cent of total expenditure on consumer goods.

The most affected by the reduction in shopping frequency are hypermarkets and traditional trade, which continue to decline in importance, while small convenience stores are among the most dynamic in terms of attracting new buyers, but also in terms of growth in value. Thus, 9.5 per cent of Romanian households bought an FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) product online at least once in the first half of 2020, 50 per cent more than the previous year. However, for consumer goods, this channel covers less than 1 per cent of the total expenditures.

Brands in the lower price segment have the largest contribution to value growth. Thus, this economy segment represents a quarter of the value of the FMCG market in the first half of 2020 but contributes 43 per cent to its growth. Own brands continue their upward trend, especially in dairy products, while the premium segment is growing slightly in importance for alcoholic, non-alcoholic beverages, coffee.

Among the categories whose consumption increased significantly in January-June 2020 are canned foods (meat, fish), instant food, chocolate cream, flour and cornmeal, cleaning products, soap, wet wipes, cake additives, cheese specialties and wafers. Hair care products, face and body creams or deodorants have decreased in volume, due to the increase in the amount of time spent at home, the GfK study also shows.