GfK study: Discount stores – most wanted for shopping by Romanian consumers

Modern commerce is in a continuous change, with Romanian retailers making their presence felt both with a big number of stores, but also with intense promotional activities in media.

In 2012, those actions reflected in a 1% increase of the modern commerce compared to previous year, attractig 49% of the total value of FMCG market for home consumption. During the last trimester in 2012, the report between the modern and traditional commerce reached to  50/50 value.

In this context, the discount stores cover 9% from the expenses of Romanian households. Compared to last year, an increase of 11% in absolute value can be seen. The analysis takes in consideration the evolution posted by Penny Market, XXL Mega Discount and Lidl, without Profi, that repositioned as supermarket starting February 2012.

According to the study, 60% of Romanian households bought at least once from discount stores, with the medium buying frequency being of twice a month.  When buying from discount stores, Romanians are looking for food and drinks (juice, coffee, beer and water).

The segment with the highest increase in value is food products, 19% up compared to 2011, while the drinks went up by 10%.

Along with the expansion of modern commerce formats, private brands had strong growth, reaching last year to a market share of 12% in value at national level and in all retail formats. For discount stores, private brands cover half of expenses, up 21% compared to last year.

After all, 90% of Romanians bought at least 1 private brand product from discounters in 2012.