Revolut sneak-peaks into Romanians consumption habits during quarantine

Cristina Blanaru Business, Finances, Marketing, Studies

Financial platform Revolut, which has over 1M users in Romania, released data showing the way the Romanians consumption habits changed during the COVID pandemic, namely between March 14 – April 14, compared to previous month.

The pandemic had a significant impact over the online entertainment consumption, as most people spend more time at home then ever. During the last month, Romanians spent more on online entertainment, more of them spending their time playing video games or watching movies on home cinema platforms.

Just last month, Revolut Romanian users spent over 7.5M euro on online entertainment, with the number of transactions up 43% compared to the previous month and an increase of their value by 54%. While the expenses with online platforms distributing movies increased moderately during the last month (HBO GO up 25%,  and Netflix up 11%), the acquisitions of online games exploded both as number of transactions and as total value.

The games consumption on Steam Games almost tripled, with the number of transactions increasing 178%, while the value of transactions increased by 176. On Playstaton, the number of transaction increased by 106%, with the value going up 132%, while transactions for xBox increased by 157% and their total value – by 161%

Revolut users spent over 12M euro on food in the start of the quarantine period in Romania. While the number of transactions decreased by 37%, the total value of the transactions increased by 17%, which shows Romanians are visiting more rarely the supermarkets, but shop for more, covering the need for food for a longer period of time.

The data also shows that the number of transactions to buy food increased during the last 2 weeks before and after the implementation of the emergency state on March 16th, because people anticipated restrictions in movement liberty will follow. During the first week of quarantine, the number of transactions decreased by 51%.

Revolut’s data shows bars, restaurants and fast foods posted the biggest decreases in number of transactions made in the respective places, Starbucks (-94%), KFC (-90%) and McDonald’s (-75%) being seriously affected. Although that, for restaurants, the number of transactions decreased by 88%, the platforms for online orders are up. On average, the number of transactions increased by 60%, while the value increased by 90%. This shows the fact that, although Romanians cannot go to the restaurant, they are ordering via apps in order to enjoy home their favorite food. While the number of orders for Glovo and Uber Eats increased by 50%, eucemananc.ro posted the biggest increase, with a number of orders almost double in the last month compared to the previous period (the number of transactions went up by 104%, and their value increased 193%).

Despite quarantine, Romanians´appetite for shopping remained at a high level. While malls and other entertainment centers are closed, people chose to buy more online, with the number of the online transactions increased by 64%, and their value almost doubled. eMag posted the biggest increase in the number of transactions from Revolut users (162% up, value up by 180%), Decathlon followed (transactions up 75% and the value uo 143%), while Fashion Days is the last on podium (with 67% increased transactions and equal when it comes of their value).

Romanians are profiting of quarantine to redecorate their homes or fix different things. First time since launching in Romania, retailers like Ikea, Dedeman, Leroy Merlin or Bricostore entered the top 100 brands prefered by Revolut users. Although the total number of transaction at these companies decreased 35% during the last month, their value increased 45%.

Health was one of the main preoccupations of Romanians during the last month. Although they spent Euro 325,000 in pharmacies, up 21% compared to the previous month, most money went to Farmacia Tei. The number of transactions with Revolut increased here by 74% and their value – by 73%Numărul tranzacțiilor cu Revolut a crescut aici cu 74%, iar valoarea acestora a crescut cu 73%.

The number of the transactions made by transport providers decreased on average by 83%, same as the value of the transactions. Ride-sharing apps were also hti by quarantine and FreeNow (-88%), Bolt (-81%), Uber (-79%) and Yango (-74%) were all seriously affected.

More and more Romanians are choosing to pay their utility bills online, because of Covid19. On average, the number of transactions made by Revolut users towards the utility providers increased by 25% and the value of transactions increased by the same percentage.

Telecom services also posted increases in number of transactions, as people started working from home and the need to be always connected with each other is bigger.