The segment of food products saw a 12% increase in value, mainly triggered by price hikes. Sales of personal and home care products were also on upward trend and saw increases of 7% and 6%, respectively.
Contrary to the general trend, costs with beverages (soft drinks, coffee, beer, water) were 2% lower on the year in 2011.
Raluca Raschip, Consumer Goods Director GfK Romania, said occasional consumers would no longer buy certain products in 2010, whereas in 2011, things cooled off and triggered an increase in the number of purchasers of most categories of consumer goods.
As regards food products, carbonated soft drinks are among the categories of goods to see the biggest decline in volume, (-9%), followed by chocolate tablets (-8%) and ground coffee (-6%). Yogurt still sees a high growth rate of 4% to 6%, while home care products are the only products to see a double-digit increase.
Private brands are on upward trend, covering 9% of the market by value in 2011, compared to 7% in 2010. Thus, 95% of households in Romania purchased a private brand at least once in 2011.
“This indicates the high growth potential, especially since their share in total costs with consumer goods is lower than in Eastern Europe (nearly 20%),” said GfK.
Cooking oil and paper products, namely, kitchen rolls, napkins and handkerchiefs, continue to hold the highest share in total purchases of private brands. The survey shows private brands have also penetrated the traditional commerce – over 60% of households purchased a private brand product at least once in 2011.
Countrywide, modern commerce is gaining ground to the detriment of traditional commerce, with the former accounting for 48% of household costs with consumer goods, compared to 45% in 2010.
The survey is based on information obtained by tracking household consumption of approximately 90 categories of consumer products through the Consumer Panel research of GfK Romania, on a sample of 2,200 households, representative countrywide.