The most important social phenomena leading to poverty (low employment, high unemployment etc.) can be found in all the poor settlements. It clearly results from it that people who live in small settlements – with the exception of settlements in the conurbation – and have no job are very likely to be poor consumers.

Now over three million people live at subsistence level in Hungary, that is, they can be considered poor. The consumption of this group strong in number was surveyed as part of GfK Hungária’s latest research. It is worth pointing out that despite being poor, these people spend significant amounts on the market, just their focus points are elsewhere.

“Everybody is trying to survive”

The life of people living under permanently limited financial circumstances is greatly influenced by the fact how much spendable income they have left after paying their fix costs. The costs of housing (electricity, gas, loan instalments) have grown in recent years, so this limits the amount that can be spent on fast moving consumer goods. Since everybody needs to eat and drink, the question arises, how this stratum strong in number responded to the changed circumstances.

“The more developed an economy is, the lower the proportion is spent on food and daily subsistence within the whole consumer basket. The improving trend seen between 2004 and 2007 came to a halt due to the economic crisis started in the autumn of 2008. The proportion of basic products did not decrease further nationally, but due to the increased housing costs (loan instalments, electricity and gas bills) and the decreasing income, poorer consumers have significantly cut back on their food purchases,” said Otília Dörnyei, GfK Hungária’s Client Service Director.

The richest settlements have nearly four times higher purchasing power than the poorest ones – this is what GfK Hungária’s General Purchasing Power Index 2009-2010 study shows. The most important social phenomena leading to poverty such as low employment, high unemployment, low level of education can be found in all poor settlements. All these almost automatically mean that people who live in small settlements – with the exception of settlements in the conurbation –and have no job are very likely to be among poor consumers.

“Life in small settlements also means that people living there go shopping to modern retail channels less frequently. A less affluent customer spends HUF36 of HUF100 in small shops, while better off people, members of the middle class only HUF26,” Otília Dörnyei added.

Cheaper Products Are the Most Popular

Not surprisingly, cheaper products are more popular with the poor; at the same time, it is not typical of them that they would like to find promotions more. All this is certainly connected to their limited choice of shops, since the smaller the settlement they live in is, the fewer shopping facilities they can choose from. This means that the nowadays popular “price hunter” behaviour is a lot more typical of urban people.

It is poorer consumer groups among whom the dominance of home-prepared meals is the most widespread, which means they eat a higher amount of the food categories such as soda water, squash, sour cream, pudding powders, which are for everyday consumption within the family. Of the convenience products, the high proportion of hair dyes used at home is conspicuous.

No Significant Differences in Basic Categories, However, Big Ones in Special Product Categories

The proportion of families with children is high among poor families. A series of sociological studies have discussed already that the poverty of families raising children is primarily related to their lower economic activity. However, the majority cannot and does not even want to economise on the costs related to raising their children.

An interesting fact is that while the fast moving consumer goods consumption of poor families with children does not differ from that of the middle class at all, it is radically different in other categories. According to the data of GfK Hungária’s ConsumerScan, the basic categories such as milk or detergents show higher consumption in all the households with children regardless their financial situation than in those without children.

However, significant differences can be found in the case of special product categories: nearly one and a half times more cheese and twice as much yoghurt is consumed in middle class households with children than among the poor. On the other hand, cooking oil, dry soups and pasta are more popular with less affluent families with children, at the same time, there is no chemical product which they would consume more of than the middle class.

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