GfK: Romanians spend more than EUR 0.55 bln on appliances in Q1

The sales of durable goods in Romania increased by 5.8% in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2016, reaching EUR 557 million, according to the GfK Temax study released yesterday. Durable goods include products such as vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, computers, laptops, mobile phones, tablets or cameras. The sales of small appliances recorded the highest annual increase during this period, namely 17.7%, reaching EUR 45 million. The electronics market went up by 12.7% in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2016, amounting to EUR 92 million. The TV market recorded a slight increase, although the average price has remained the same. The large appliances market reached EUR 110 million between January and March, up 7.9% over the first quarter of 2016, according to GfK. Meanwhile the telecom sales rose by 5.2% to EUR 204 million. The sales of 4G smartphones continued to record a double-digit growth. The photo market saw an annual growth of 5.1% reaching EUR 5 million. On the other side, the sales of IT and printing products recorded decreases. The demand for tablets saw the highest decrease on this segment. editor@romania-insider.com