FMCG industry in Romania grows by 7.5 pct last year, over EU average (study)

The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry continues to be an economic powerhouse, with an increase of 7.5% last year compared to 2020, Romania advancing more than the EU average, shows a study done by global marketing research firm Nielsen, sent, on Monday, to AGERPRES.

Consumption is the main driver of the GDP in Romania, and the FMCG industry contributed significantly to growth throughout the two years of the pandemic, as it took over part of the budgets that were previously spent on activities outside the house.

According to NielsenIQ Retail Audit data, in 2021, retail of FMCG rose by 7.5% in value over the previous year, Romania exceeding the European average.

The value of sales recorded increases in all macro-categories of products, with the maximum increase in non-alcoholic goods (10.2%) and alcoholic goods (8%), followed by food products (7.4%) and non-food products (4.1%).

These sales increases were due mainly to increases of quantities bought (6% in volume), while the inflation effect is observed only marginally (1.5%) in the aggregate level of prices in 2021. Although prices started to increase at the end of last year for some product categories, Romanians appealed to some strategies to preserve their budgets: they used omni-shopping to find the best prices and best promotion sonline, bought more often from discount stores or started choosing cheaper items.

The own brands of retailers, mostly lower in price, continue to gain ground ahead of producer brands (1% market share), reaching in value 15.1% of the total FMCG sales in Romania.

The advance of private brands comes following the development of modern retail channels, both in what regards the number of stores (8.5%) as well as sales through these channels. With the exception of gas stations, the accelerated evolution of which reflects a return after the circulation restrictions of 2020, the biggest increase in sales over the previous year was recorded in the Discount channel (18.7%).

Although small supermarkets and hypermarkets (8.4%, and 5.4% respectively) also recorded increases in sales, these are smaller than the numeric evolution of the stores in the said networks. Retail has continued to benefit in the past year from part of the lost sales of the HoReCa industry, which made traditional commerce, in numeric decrease down to 58,000 stores, to record significant increases in sales.

Online commerce for FMCG continued to have an accelerated growth in 2021 and notes a trues democratization of this channel. According to the "E-commerce shopper trends" NielsenIQ study ran throughout November 2021, the penetration of digital shopping is continually increasing, and most new e-shoppers are part of the low-income category (45%). (AGERPRES)