By KYIV. Dec 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The boycott of companies still operating on the Russian market continues: 63% of Ukrainians say that on principle they do not buy goods from sellers/manufacturers who have not left the market of the aggressor country, and another 22% do not know how to check this information, according to a study of Deloitte in Ukraine.
According to it, 68% of respondents (last year 61%) plan to allocate part of their Christmas and New Year’s budget to charity: 86% of them will send assistance to defenders on the front line, and 66% of Ukrainians will prefer sellers who support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and war-affected civilians, transferring a portion of the funds from each purchase to help.
“This year’s study showed that despite everything, Ukrainians are holding steady: they continue to shop, donate to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, arrange their lives, and planning is returning to their lives. If last year we observed that buyers are in a confused state and cannot plan for their shopping, now, they already know a month in advance what they will order online, when they will start buying offline and what their budget for purchases and charity is,” Director, Head of the industry group for retail and wholesale distribution at Deloitte in Ukraine Oleksandr Yampolsky said.
As for the New Year holidays, 59% (61% a year earlier) of respondents plan not to give up on them. The majority of respondents (64%) intend to start shopping between December 1 and December 24, whereas last year Ukrainians mainly postponed purchases until the second half of December.
Speaking about the budget, 56% of Ukrainians (49% a year ago) reported that they plan to spend from UAH 1,000 to UAH 5,000. The most popular product categories are still food (84%, a year earlier 81%), clothing and footwear (32% versus 42%) and alcoholic beverages (40% versus 32%).
“An interesting and inspiring observation for us was that the younger generation of Ukrainians (18–27 years old), despite the war and all the unpredictability that it causes, are the most willing among other ages to spend money on arranging their lives, buying furniture, dishes, decor and the like,” Yampolsky said.
Due to Ukraine’s transition to a new calendar, the majority of Ukrainians (about 45%) will celebrate Christmas on December 25 and only 17% on January 7. There are also those planning to celebrate twice – 32%.
The main place for Christmas and New Year’s shopping, according to the study, will be supermarkets, where 72% of respondents plan to make purchases (60% a year earlier), and large shopping centers – 51% (versus 55%, respectively). Some 40% of respondents intend to purchase goods from online stores (48% a year ago).
As Deloitte said, this year Ukrainians are ready to postpone the purchase here and now and wait for the delivery of goods at a lower price from abroad, if it is: cheap or free – 37%, fast – 17%, if the website for ordering goods will be convenient – 12%, while a year ago buyers were not ready to wait for goods from another country, even if it was 20% cheaper.
The study was conducted using an online survey using a quota sample corresponding to the socio-demographic portrait of the population of Ukraine. More than 1,000 respondents from all regions of Ukraine (with the exception of temporarily occupied territories and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea), as well as Ukrainians living abroad, took part in the survey.
