Romanians spent about 7% more for consumer goods in semster 1

Household expenses for consumer goods have grown in Romania by 6.6% in semester 1, 2024 against the previous year, but volumes purchased by households stagnated in the first six months in 2023, according to Consumer Panel Gfk Romania data, released on Tuesday.   According to the study, there were important volume drops for certain basic categories such as: bread, oil, frozen goods, butter, breakfact cereals, beverages (sweet beverages, coffee, energizing beverages, juice drinks and cyder). Data centralized by Consumer Panel Services GfK show the fact that the inflation rate in FMCG was 3% in semester 1, 2024, compared to the previous year. Moreover, 85% of Romanian buyers declared worried by the fact that price may rise, according to the latest Bheavior Change report launched by Consumer Panel GfK. Thus, four out of ten households in Romania remain in the budget squeeze area, being compelled to limit expenses with consumer goods in order to be included in the budget available and do not succeed to cover current needs either.   An important recent trend is represented by promoted products. In this respect, 23% of all FMCG purchases (except for Fresh Food), made y households in the first 6 months of 2024 were offered with 4% over the level recorded in the same period of 2023.   Purchases from hypermarkets went up by 4%, from one year to the other and became 25% below the market share for the frst time.   According to the source, IKA Supermarkets network presenrved the same descending trend, while independent supermakets (local chains and stores not belonging to networks) advanced at a rate of 14% in the analiyzed period, mainly due to the increase of the average purchase basket.   The largest average purchase basket is recorded in hypermarkets, where households spend an average of 90 lei per store visit. In exchange, Romanian buyers go to discount type stores rather than hypermarkets.   At the first 6 months 2024 level, the average purchase frequency for discounters exceeded than recorded in supermarkets.   Consumer Panle GfK is a continuous type study monitoring the purchase behavious of households in Romania based on a representative sample at national level, made of 6,000 buyers.Data are collected by scanning bar codes of products brought home, regardless of the purchase chain.   GfK consumer panel is active in the Romanian study market of ober 25 years. Consumer Panel Services GfK supplies key data about who buys what, how often and why.   Early this year, the company announced the separation from GfK Group and the completion of the transaction with YouGov, a market leader in point of consumer opinions,motivations, wished and customs.