Hungarian purchasing power and demographic variables

János Kui
Head of Geomarketing
Hungary/Adriatics
GfK

In 2017 European purchasing power growth was the 5th biggest in Hungary: up more than 10 percent, it was EUR 655/year/person – revealed data from GfK. The per capita income that can be spent is was EUR 6,204/year. Hungarians’ purchasing power was between 40-44 percent of the European average in the last few years. Taking a look at the different Hungarian regions, we can see that the formerly poorer areas are getting closer to higher-income regions. A considerable part of the increased average spending by consumers goes into retail in the form of purchasing groceries.

It is noteworthy that there aren’t more shops in the regions where there is greater buying potential. This is especially true in Veszprém, Fejér, Baranya and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok counties. On the contrary, there are many shops in Békés County where the purchasing power is low.

Rita Csillag-Vella
account director
GfK

The 35-49 age group is over-represented in Budapest and the capital city’s agglomeration. It is in Baranya County where the proportion of 50-64 year old consumers is the highest; their proportion is the lowest in and around Budapest. Which are the different age groups? Those born before 1952 are the Rebuilders, the ones born between 1952 and 1966 are the Baby Boomers, members of Generation X were born between 1967 and 1981, Millenials were born between 1982 and 1996. Between 1997 and 2011 iBrains consumers were born, and those are called Smarties who were born after 2011.

Today it isn’t enough to do segmentation based on age group, and draw conclusions about shopping habits and general trends accordingly. GfK’s Household Panel survey makes a connection between shopping data and changes in volume sales and the demographic profile and shopping habits of consumers – often down to brand level.With this methodology, GfK defined 3 key consumer segments: Late Motherhood, Solo Going Professionals and Silver Professionals. //