Also, 44% of Romanians believe social networking websites have become an important source of information for best choice products.
The survey also shows that smartphones are currently used mainly to compare prices (44% of smartphone owners who searched for information online or shopped online over the past six months), to search for product information and reviews (42%) and to locate shops (42%). However, people have started to use smartphones also to check whether a certain product is available (31%) or as QR-code scanners (22%).
Internet penetration rate in Romania has grown constantly over the past years, reaching 53% countywide and 63% in urban areas among people aged over 15, in April 2013.
Romanians’ appetite for tablets and smartphones is one the rise, with smartphones accounting for 25% of the overall mobile phones market in units, in 2012, and the number of sold tablets increasing nearly five times, according to GfK.
The GfK FutureBuy survey is representative for urban Internet users aged 15 to 45. The survey was conducted online on a sample of 600 respondents.