Trade: Romanians reduce holiday budget, due to price increases

About three thirds of Romanians (72%) are worried due to price rises, and most of them will allocate a lower budget per purchase, compared to2023, according to 2024 results of Holiday Shopping Report, the latest Offerista study carried out at European level.   Holidays are opportunities to meet the loved ones and also one of the busiest shopping times of the year. However, financial worries will be present this year, according to the study.   Not only Romanians, but also all Europeans are worried about financial aspects, in the context of celebrations, the study shows.   Inflation is a major concern in Europe, France (85%) reporting the biggest worries, closely followed by Spain (76%) and Italy (73%).   Price rises, the price of energy and personal financial pressures influence buyers to concentrate on essential expenses, especially food and drinks.   Consumers in Romania reported similar concerns when they think about this year's celebrations. 72% of respondents declared that the main problem worrying them is price/inflation increases, followed by the higher price rises for energy/gas by 56%. Health ranks third, with 39%, closely followed by fears concerning their own financial situation by 35%.   In the context of financial concerns, many people concentrate their holiday budgets for essential items, reducing at the same time random expenses, while 90% of Romanians declared they will limit expenses for purchases like: household appliances (56%), clothes (54%), furniture, restaurants (51%) and travels (48%).   Over a third of Romanians (37%) will start shopping earlier this year , the main reason for this approach being the sfor purchase planning separation of expenses (46%), followed by the wish to have more time for purchase planning(40%), and avoiding last minute stress (35%).   “The impact of the economic situation is strongly felt by Romanians in 2024, 11% of them declaring that they do not intend to do Christmas shopping this year because of the low purchase power,” analysis data show.   As for inflation, many European consumers adopt a proactive and strategic approach of holiday purchases, turning to account offers and promotions in order to optimise their budgets.   Romanians make no exception, and when it comes to Christmas gifts, the most important aspects are the quality- price ratio (36%), promotions (28%) and the variety of offers which allow them to buy everything in a single place (13%).   This year, due to the economic situation, about teo thirds of Romanian consumers will allocate the same budget for holiday purchases as in 2023 (65.13%), while 20% of consumers will allocate a lower budget.   The lower budget allocated for the holidays means this year consumers intend to spend less for every gift (35%), will select different products at a lower price (29%) or will choose cheaper alternatives of the same products (20%). Brands will face higher pressure in succeeding to reach consumers with their own offers, in order to convince them.   In absolute terms, about 40% of Romanian consumers intend to spend between 500 and 1,000 lei for Christmas shopping, 24% have a total budget of less than 500 lei, while 22% will spend between 1,000 and 2,000 lei for holidays this year. The main purchase category Romanians have in view for the holidays are food and drinks (52%), sport (31%), makeup and perfumes (24%) and toys (20%).   Although the digital average is the main information channel for promotions, Romanians shop mostly in physical stores. At European level, and Romania makes no exception, consumers use digital sources more and more, in order to get informed about promotions and offers, the digital average having an almost double use against the classic average.   In order to get informed about Christmas offers, Romanian consumers prefer to get informed from official sites of stores/brands (53%), followed by social media (33%) and then by TV (28%) and the press (21%).   At the same time, when it comes to finding inspiration for holiday purchases, local stores are leading in the top of Romanians' preferences (43%), followed closely by social media channels (38%) and TV (30%).   Romanians prefer to see and test what they buy, so that most of them (59%) will buy from physical stores, while a third (34%) declared that they will buy both from stores and online and only 7% only online. 2024 Holiday Shopping Report was made online in September and October 2024, by means of ShopFully and Offerista applications and focused on consumers aged over 18 from 8 European markets (Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Spain), collecting data from a sample representative at national level for every country.   Offerista, the European market leader on the Digital Retail Marketing segment, has been present in Romania since 2019, offering digital services to connect buyers looking for retail offers.