Ukraine: Retail Foods Report
Ukraine is a developing country with market-oriented economy. The retail food market faces slow growth, although part of the growth was due inflationary pressures rather than exclusively from volume sales. Ukrainian citizens spend more than 50 percent of their income on food and beverages. In general, consumers choose to shop at supermarkets over traditional markets due to competitive prices and longer hours of operation. Consumers increased the frequency of discounters’ visits: from 9 times a month in 2016 to 11 times a month in 2017, but supermarkets remain the most important shopping channel. Over 55 percent of consumers consider supermarkets to be the main type of stores to do their grocery shopping. Health conscious consumption is seen to be a new trend: more customers are looking for organic, gluten-free, lactose-free and low sugar content products.
