Trade: Survey : Almost half of the buyers acquire products from physical shops, the trend going upwards

61% of the consumers are optimistic with regards to the future, coming back to purchasing in physical shops and plan the increase of purchases in the next six months, according to a PwC survey, Global Consumer Insights Pulse Survey 2021, made in September among 9,370 consumers out of 26 countries.   The data of the survey show that the people who work from home or in a hybrid way are with 10 percent (68%) more optimistic than those who go to work (58%) and 52% of the interviewees say that they are more preoccupied by the environment than six months ago.    ‘61% of the interviewees are optimistic with regard to the future, they come back to buying in physical shops and plan to increase their expenses over the next six months’ according to a PwC survey, Global Consumer Insights Pulse Survey 2021, made in September among 9,370 consumers form 26 countries.   Over the next six months, 41% of the consumers intend to spend more in food, 33%in fashion, 31% in travel and 30% in health and beauty stimulating economic recovery.  ‘Although the context of public health is not comparable, these trends at global level are noticed in Romania as well, in the first ten months of 2021, the volume of the turnover in retail being, according to INS with 10.2% higher than during the same period of last year’ stated Ruxandra Tarlescu, partner Taxes and Leader for Retail industry and FMCG, PwC Romania.   As regards the purchasing criteria, the price and commodity remain first, although sustainability gains more ground. Thus, almost 70% look for the best offer when they buy a product irrespective to the type of shop, physical or online, and more than half say that an efficient service of delivery or collection is always or very often important.   At the same time, the purchases on smartphones are by far the most popular way of online acquisition. Over 40% of the interviewees say that they make purchases daily or weekly by smartphone, as compared to 39% six months ago and only 12% five years ago.   Asked about the situation of the covid-19 pandemics in their country, those who are vaccinated are more optimistic as regards the future (66%) against those who are not vaccinated (43%). Only 18% of the total of the interviewees are not optimistic.   The survey shows that the people who work from home or in a hybrid way are 10 percent (68%) more optimistic than their counterparts who go to work (58%).   The way in which the companies use the data of the clients is one of the key factors which affect the trust, 83% of the interviewees stated that the data protection practice influences the trust in a company and almost half of the global consumers (47%) show that the use of the data has become a priority for them.