SLOVAKS claim in consumer polls that they buy Slovak products to a large extent. However, based on a survey conducted by the polling agency GfK Slovakia, domestic grocery products make up only 54 percent of the goods found in the average Slovak shopping basket. Goods from the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany are the biggest competitors, the SITA newswire reported in mid December.
“Slovak consumers tend to declare that they prefer domestic producers to a great degree in their grocery shopping,” said Anna Buzinkay from GfK Slovakia. “However, in reality they are exposed to a great deal of advertising, promotion and marketing messages as well as attractive ways of product placement right at the points of sale (POS). Therefore it often happens that within their customer journey the key selection criterion is not the domestic origin of the product but other factors, such as POS promotions, attractive and convenient packaging, etc.”
Slovak products are most strongly represented in the shopping baskets of households from eastern Slovakia, as well as from smaller towns and municipalities. Conversely, consumers in Bratislava Region as well as larger cities tend to buy more foreign products.
GfK Slovakia conducted the survey for the Slovak Food Chamber on a sample of 360 shops belonging to food retail chains across Slovakia. GfK monitored 13 key grocery categories between January and June of the last year .
