Consumer habits: Romanians buy close to home

Cristina Blanaru Creativity, Marketing, Studies

Around 50% of Romanians choose the shop where they spend most money on fast moving foods and non-foods by its vicinity to their home or work, as well as the time required to reach the shop, according to a GfK study

This factor has a stronger influence among people between 45 and 55 years old or those with higher education, and especially for the people living in Bucharest.

The price level is also a fairly important reason to choose the shop, mentioned by approximately 46% of the Romanians, with a greater impact on women or people with incomes of less than 1,500 RON, but less considered by people in Bucharest.

The variety of food and non-food range is found as an important criterion for Romanians, who prefer hypermarket chains (43%), without bringing changes in the final ranking (ranking 3rd ).

Freshness and quality of products, although ranking 4th in the top of reasons why consumers choose a shop (16% of total population), it is of relatively low importance among young people aged between 25 and 35, but also for the people who live in Bucharest.

Other criteria of a relative importance for buyers (less than 6%) are the habit of going to a particular store (especially among Romanians who do not work), the existence of promotions (with a slightly larger impact among women), the pleasant staff and quick purchase opportunity (no queues at the checkout or speed of payment).

The data are part of the Shopping Monitor study conducted in November 2010 on a total of 737 respondents over 15 years old in urban areas, responsible for buying foods and non-foods for the household, a sample that is representative of historical regions and degree of urbanization. The data collection method was the one of telephone interviews.

GfK Romania, founded in 1992, is an integral part of GfK Group. For 10 years, GfK Romania has been the number 1 market research institute in Romania. Its activities are structured into five segments: Custom Research – Ad Hoc qualitative and quantitative research for a wide range of industries (consumer goods, telecommunications and IT, finance, retail, tourism, automotive, industrial goods), Consumer Tracking – continuous research for consumer goods, Retail and Technology – continuous research for durable goods, Media – qualitative and quantitative research on the consumption of media products and Healthcare- qualitative and quantitative research in all medical fields.