Office and IT products, along with telecom ones – increased sales in Q4 2011

Long term usage goods market in Romania continues its recovery, with a growth in Q4 2011 of 15.6% compared to the same period in 2010. The total value of this market was, in 2011, of Euro 1.4BN, with an increase year per year of 12.8%, according to GfK Temax Romania study.

The most important increases in sales were registered by office and IT products.

 

Highest growth in sales – IT Products

Sales for IT products registered the highest growth, with an annual growth rate of 25.5% and a minimum quarterly growth rate of 23%.

Most brought IT items were the laptops, that generated more than half of total sales. Increased sales were also registered for tablets

Office products

Multi-functional printers continue to sale well on Romanian market. The sector, that generated Euro 10M in sales, had a 33.4% growth in Q4 compared to the same period of the previous year. Prefered by customers are laser printers, as they have a higher printing speed and use consumables that are cheap. Laser printers are used by businesses, while inkjet ones are prefered by home users.

Small appliances: Hot drinks machines drove the sales 

Small appliances had a double digit growth and generated sales of Euro 108M in 2011, with a 19.1% growth in Q4 compared to Q1. Most wanted in 2011 were hot drinks machines that, together with different devices for prepairing food, irons and styling machines, supported the growth of this market segment.

Around 50% of small appliances sales were generated by consumers that brought products cheaper than Euro 50. According to the study, sales made in Q4 2011 weren’t done as Christmas presents, but because they were really necesary.

Telecom sector kept a steady growth over the year

Mobile and smart phones started the year with a weaki growth in Q1, but sales level increased steadily during the next 3 quarters. The sector postes increased sales by 17,8% in Q4, compared to the same period of 2010. All in all, sales increased by 10% in 2011 compared to 2010.

Photos worth Euro 46M in 2011

Photo market increased by 17.4% year per year in 2011, reaching to a total value of Euro 46M. Nearly a third of those sales were made during Q4, their value reaching to Euro 13M. In December, most photo cameras sold were for entry-level cameras costing less than Euro 100.

Home appliances – boosted by promotions 

Home appliances registered an increase in sales of 8.6% year per year in 2011, reaching to a total value of Euro 293M. The sales in this sector were boosted by promotions and the low penetration rate for electronic products such as flat-screen TVs.

Following promotional campaigns, TVs medium prices reduced by 8% and consumers were attracted to stores and convinced to buy.

Christmas sales were important for this sector, with Euro 110M sales in Q4, 10.2% higher that in the same period of 2010.

Big home appliances – also growing

Big home appliances grew too in Q4 2011, by 9.3%, and reached a total yearly value of Euro 328M.

GfK Temax Romania is an indicator developed by GfK Retail and Technology to monitor long term usage products market. This report is published at international level and its conclusions are based upon studies made in GfK Retail and Technology retail panel. This panel includes sales data from over 190,000 stores from all over the world.