Romanians Spent 6% More On Consumer Goods In ’09, Switched To In-Home Consumption – Survey

The first half of 2009 brought higher in-home consumption, compared with the corresponding period in 2008, mainly backed by an increase of up to 9% in consumer spending on the „basket” of goods.

„The strong boom in the first half of 2009 was followed by a moderate consumer buying behavior in the second half of 2009,” Raluca Raschip, Consumer Tracking director at GfK Romania, said in a press release.

In 2009, Romanians preferred in-home consumption, which boosted sales for certain categories of products. Among basic food products, edible oil consumption saw an increase of nearly 4%.

„Consumers cooked a lot more, a trend upheld by the increase in edible oil consumption per household, whereas the number of buyers remained unchanged. The increase in edible oil consumption was also backed by the strong decline in the average edible oil price, namely, a decrease of up to 24% in 2009, compared with 2008,” the survey shows.

The survey also indicates that producers stimulated consumption with promotions focused on both added value and prices, which translated into higher consumption.

In-home trend is also reflected by beer consumption, which saw a 9% increase, mirroring people’s choice to stay home.

The survey also shows that Romanians bought more yogurt, both plain and with fruit, in 2009, compared to 2008.

The survey is based on information collected by tracking classic consumption for approximately 90 categories of consumer goods via Consumer Research Panel of GfK Romania, on a nationwide representative sample of 2,200 households.