iSense study: Romanians’ shopping habits during pandemic times

Newsroom Business, Consumption Habits, Marketing, Studies

Considering the economical uncertainty and decrease of salaries in the latest period, Romanians say they will give up buying certain categories of products like furniture (61%), electronics and gadgets (47%), games (33%), sports products (30%), books (29% per total and 38% in rural areas).

The most careful regarding the next trimester buys are young people aged 18 -29: 72% plan to stop investing in furniture, 57% say they won’t buy any more electronics and almost half of them (49%) give up on books.

The rural area inhabitants have different preferences compared to people living in cities when it comes of certain categories of products and say they will buy at the same pace, like before the pandemic, products like sweets (75% vs. 60% urban), soft drinks (70% vs. 61% urban) and clothes / shoes (66% vs. 57% urban).

On the other hand, 12% Romanians say they will buy more cleaning and home care products in the next 3 months, 10% will buy more soft drinks and 6% – more bottled water. In the same time, a third of respondents say they will continue to store food so they will limit the trips to shopping.

During the next period, the consumers will show a dual way of acting. On one hand, the economic uncertainty is determining us to be cheaper, a thing that will translate in reducing the expenses and a more careful selection of the bought brands, and the big winners here will be brands with tradition. On the other hand, there is a need of compensation for the period of lockdown, so we will profit of any occasion to satisfy small pleasures, in the limits of the budget

Alina Zelezneac,

Head of Quantitative Research, iSense Solutions.

Romanians remain faithful to the brands they got used to: 84% declare their intention to buy the brands that are known to them. The most loyal to know brands remain the uneducated consumers, 97%, compared to just 75% of the educated people.

Only 35% Romanians state they will be more attentive to promotions and search for products on offer or with a bigger discount then before. Women are more likely to look for promotions (40%), same as low income people (56%) and people from cities with under 50 000 inhabitants (50%).