MKOR Consulting continues its series of market research in the fashion industry with shopping habits in malls, featuring the Bucharest Fashion Retail Market Study.
Fashion Market Research Context
In June 2016, MKOR Consulting conducted market research aimed at identifying the main consumption habits of online fashion retail customers, alongside the expectations and behaviors of the retailers themselves.
The Romania Online Fashion Market study showed that, although more and more Romanians are willing to purchase clothing items online, interest in shopping at malls remains among the top preferences.
Bucharest is the city with the most malls, as the capital’s residents consider them the preferred place for purchasing clothing and footwear.
One-third of the country’s total shopping center space is located in the capital, which already hosts 11 malls, the most significant openings in 2016 being ParkLake Plaza and Veranda Mall Obor.
In 2015, the capital’s malls generated cumulative revenues of approximately 680 million lei (154.5 million euros), a level slightly higher than that recorded in the previous year. For example, sales at AFI Cotroceni stores increased by 14% in the first six months of 2016, reaching over 112 million euros, and the number of visitors also grew by 5.5%.
In addition, Romania is one of the most tempting markets for developers of new shopping centers, given that Romanians spend, on average, more per mall visit than Czechs, Hungarians, Poles, and even Swedes. Thus, during a typical mall visit, Romanians spend an average of 35 Euros, of which 10 Euros go toward food and drinks.
Given all the above, MKOR Consulting wanted to expand the previous study with a new research on Bucharest fashion retail, specifically analyzing the consumption habits of mall customers.
Respondents of This Research
The Bucharest Fashion Retail research was conducted in November 2016, through field research on a representative sample of 398 respondents, customers of the most important malls in Bucharest.
Respondents were 60% female and 40% male, most of them aged between 18-35 years.
50% of respondents have average cumulative monthly household incomes between 2,000-4,500 lei, 25% have high incomes (over 4,500 lei), and 11% have low incomes (under 2,000 lei).
