Changing spending habits

These days most families shape their budgets from week to week. From statistical data on 3.8 million Hungarian households we can see that families’ budgets are shrinking. The Hungarian Trade Association (OKSZ) examined the different influences that families were exposed to recently and found that in the first five months of 2011 we spent HUF 3,145 billion in FMCG units, HUF 140 billion more than a year earlier, which sum equals the volume of inflation. It is a burden on households that general VAT on food products has been 25 percent for 2 years now, which means that on an annual level households have to spend HUF 150 billion more on food. At the same time the black market is flourishing. There is great pressure on several hundred thousand households to pay the monthly instalments of their foreign currency loans. On the other hand, it was good news that the level of inflation reduced in the summer months. In July the consumer price index was 3.1 percent. International and domestic statistical data and surveys show that people are spending more cautiously: they go shopping more often and buy less per shopping occasion. Discount store chains such as Aldi, Lidl, Penny and Profi set their feet firmly: they offer low prices and are located close to where people live. According to a survey by GfK Hungária 2 out of 5 people go shopping in separate shops and not in shopping centres. Tesco and Spar have already reacted to this trend by opening smaller units at central locations and now Auchan plans the same.