In choosing food products, the country of origin is the most important criterion for only four percent of Czechs. Quality is the most important measure for 44 percent, and price for 34 percent. Nonetheless, the importance of price has been growing again because of economic uncertainty. These results follow from the recent study carried out by the advisory firm KPMG Czech Republic.
For 13 percent of the respondents, the food products’ ingredients and their structure are the most important criteria. Two percent look at the producer of a product first, and three percent choose the food products they purchase according to other criteria.
“In a previous study, carried out in 2019, the share of respondents who see price as the most important criterion in choosing food products dropped to under 30 percent for the second time in a row. This time, however, the share of price as the most important criterion rose again to 34 percent, which is a return to 2013 numbers. The reason for this change is most likely the economic uncertainty connected with the COVID-19 pandemic and the current high inflation. Unless the uncertainty declines, people’s emphasis on price will probably increase even more”, says Martina Štegová, KPMG Partner in charge of Retail. As Martina Štegová adds, price is naturally the most important criterion with low-income customers.
In 2017, during an economic boom period, 28 percent of respondents indicated price as the most important criterion when buying food products, which was the lowest percentage over the entire monitored period from 2013 to today.
