Romanians shopped more in proximity stores, supermarkets in 2023

The sole retail market segments that posted higher sales in volume terms last year were the supermarkets (+1.5% y/y) and proximity stores (+1.6% y/y) part of country-wide chains – while the large-format stores and the local retailers reported deep 2.8% and 2.7% contraction, respectively, according to a RetailZoom report quoted by Economica.net.

The figures are consistent with the first-tier cities (where small-size formats of country-wide retail chains are located) performing better in terms of purchasing power.

At the same time, even there, the buyers tend to make more rational purchase decisions based on specific needs rather than impulse, with more visits to proximity stores and supermarkets where the average number of goods in the basket decreased from 7 to 5 over the past three years.

The private labels are no longer gaining ground, rather the opposite, despite the average prices for such categories increasing slightly slower than the average prices of brand goods (11% versus 10%-15%). The share of private labels in total retail sales edged down by 0.1pp to 19% in volume terms and by 0.5pp to 18.1% in value terms in 2023.

Another trend highlighted by the RetailZoom report is the larger number of discount campaigns organized by retailers. Thus, 28% of the goods purchased in Q4 last year were purchased as part of such discount campaigns, Ziarul Financiar reported. This may mean that such campaigns are efficient tools the major brands use against private labels.

The RetailZoom report covers the sales operated through IKA (international key accounts, modern retail) and LKA (local key accounts, local retail). The figures do not include, however, the largest retailer in Romania - Lidl.

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