What happened in the last 15 months?

A record number of registrations, exceeding 160 people, indicated the increased interest in the TMK meeting organized on April 13, where the heads of three market research companies reviewed the processes related to recent market trends.

The organizers of the event, TMK founder Hermann Zsuzsanna, greeted those gathered in the virtual space and then introduced the other two founders of the Klub, Ágnes Csiby and Ildiko Kátai.

We buy less

Tünde Turcsán, FMCG director of GfK, said in her presentation that Hungarian purchasing power is almost half of the European Union average. 80% of households have to cut back on their spending. 63% cannot afford the same products they bought before. It is typical to buy several times less, to look for promotions, to choose cheaper alternatives and private labels. More and more shoppers prefer discounters, which are considered the cheapest. The share of drugstores and the online channel also increased. 60% of households still plan to save, but follow a different strategy in the different categories. In addition to reducing the quantity, there is also the choice of the cheaper store, cheaper items, economic packaging and products close to expiration.

Cautious consumer reactions

Csilla Czikora, customer relations director of NielsenIQ (NIQ), highlighted that 2022 was the year of inflation both regionally and globally, with spectacularly higher values in Eastern Europe. An increase in the price level is associated with a decrease in volume, which is why consumers are increasingly cautious about their purchasing decisions. 62% of Hungarian customers buy only basic things. Only 9% stick to the usual brands regardless of the price. Customers claimed that they buy less and at a lower price for 15 of the examined categories. The less affected categories are mainly intimate products in contact with the body, special foods and pleasure goods. The popularity of private label products continued to grow, reaching a value share of 30% of total FMCG sales in Hungary. In the stockable and basic goods categories, the share of large packages is increasing.

The scissors open

Andreas Christou, managing director of RetailZoom, emphasized that consumers no longer consider domestic retailers necessarily more expensive. As a result of the radical increase in food prices, the number of items placed in the basket decreased by 2 on average. The growing gap between Budapest and the countryside is striking. There are 2.4 times more large baskets in the capital and their value is on average 130% higher than in the countryside. Analyzing loyalty card data, it was found that the gap between premium and mainstream customers is also opening. In the traditional channel, the Top 10 SKUs are: two types of beer, an energy drink, meats with a price cap, tomatoes, bananas, Trappist cheese, cooking oil and bun. In the first quarter of this year, the price increase was halved, mainly due to the strong promotions, the volumes also increased. Building loyalty is also important for domestic chains, so the launch of two new loyalty programs is expected in this channel.