Study: Romanians keep unused items worth over EUR 800 mln

A total of 80% of Romanians hold on to items worth EUR 820 million, according to a study undertaken by classifieds platform OLX and D&D Research. The study was undertaken to estimate to value of functional but unused items in local households.

Data collection was undertaken in over 900 localities, and 7,379 respondents participated.

The study revealed that small appliances make up the most stored category. On average Romanians store 5 items in their households, and own at least one product in the following categories: small electronic items (55 %), large electronic items (29.7%), large appliances (21.5%) and small appliances (20.7%), house goods (18,9%), garden items (18.4%), sports & leisure items and accessories (15.5%), children’s items (13.1%), and games and toys (11.3%).

As far as the total value per category is concerned, small electronic items lead, with EUR 390 million. They are followed by large electronic items (EUR 164 million), house items (EUR 99 million), games and toys (EUR 47 million), and sports & leisure items (EUR 40 million).

In the category of small electronics, mobile phones are the most stored (73.7%), followed by tablets (17.8%), photo cameras and accessories (8.0%) and video cameras (0.5%).

As far as large electronic items are concerned, the most stored are PC systems and monitors (33.6%), followed by laptops (30.5%), consoles (9.8%), games (6.6%), portable audio-video players (4.5%), parts and accessories (4.2%), and TV sets (3.7%).

In the case of large appliances, the most stored are refrigerators (36.6%), kitchen items (29.8%), washing machines and dishwashers (26.6%), gas cookers, stoves and stove hoods (6.4%) and air conditioning units (0.5%).

According to the same study, most consumers (60%) store the items inside their home, in cupboards or in the storage closet. A total of 30% chose to deposit the items in a cellar or barn.

When it comes to what they plan to do with the items they store, 36% of respondents say that they usually sell or exchange them, 27% keep them “just in case”, 20% offer them to relatives or friends, 6% reuse them, 2% sell them at fairs, and 9% throw them out.

The study also showed that 85% of Romanians living in urban areas store items, while 71% of those in rural areas do the same.

The value of the items stored in urban areas is of EUR 605 million, higher than that of those stored in rural areas – EUR 215 million.

The maximum value of the stored items was recorded in Bucharest (EUR 136 million), Timiș (EUR 36 million) and Cluj (EUR 27 million), while the lowest value was recorded in Tulcea (EUR 6 million).