Most Romanians do their shopping in large stores such as hypermarkets and supermarkets, the price being the main criteria when choosing a shopping place.

According to a recent INSCOP survey conducted at the request of the major retailers association - AMRCR, large stores are the favorite shopping places for 83.6% of respondents, followed by neighborhood stores (65.2%), and markets (45.2%).

Almost 90% of respondents appreciate large stores such as hypermarkets, cash & carry, supermarkets, and discount stores, reports local Mediafax.

The price continues to be the main criteria for choosing a shopping place (75.2% of respondents pay attention to prices), followed by the quality of the products (65.1%), and the distance from home (58%). Almost 65% of Romanians think that supermarkets help them save money, while 22.8% believe the opposite and 12.3% have no opinion.

More than 70% of respondents find the products sold in supermarkets to be cheaper than those sold in small stores or markets, and 81.4% say that supermarkets have more low-priced products than other stores.

Two-thirds of respondents believe that Romanian food products are of better quality than the foreign ones, and 27% think that they are the same. Almost 40% say that Romanian and foreign food products have the same prices, and 28.8% find Romanian products to be more expensive than the foreign ones, according to the study.

When it comes to what ‘Romanian product’ means, 36% say this means that the product was made based on a Romanian recipe, 26.6% think  this category includes any product that is manufactured in Romania, regardless of the origin of ingredients, name, and brand, while 21.6% believe that only traditional products should be considered Romanian products. Almost 13% say that a product is Romanian if it has a Romanian name.

Over 45% of respondents say that the VAT cut on food was reflected in lower prices in supermarkets, while only 26% say that they have also seen price cuts in neighborhood stores.

The study also shows that most Romanians would not be ok with supermarkets closing on weekends.

The study was conducted on a sample of more than 1,200 people.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com