The international advisory firm AlixPartners surveyed 7,164 people in nine countries on new consumer habits. 50% of French people believe that their consumption habits have changed permanently as a result of the health crisis.
AlixPartners' international "Consumer Priorities" survey sets the scene for the "world after", and for the new major consumer trends in retail (food and non-food), restaurants, leisure and entertainment, and travel.
50% of French people believe that their consumption habits have changed permanently because of the crisis. Purchasing power continues to polarise, with the wealthiest having increased their savings, but the least affluent households have seen a significant drop in income," says Axel Culoz, Senior Advisor at AlixPartners. Food retailers can therefore expect sharp contrasts in consumption across demographics and geographies."
Online shopping reinforced
Online shopping has been boosted, but its growth in the food sector must be put into perspective. The proportion of consumers who want to buy more online is 21% for beauty products (vs. 16% "more in shop") and 28% for clothes and shoes (vs. 18%). For food, on the contrary, the French want to buy more in shop (17% vs 20%). Generally speaking, French consumers are more conservative on this subject than the international average.
And while the French were keen to return to restaurants - more so than in most other countries - home entertainment is also popular. Eleven percent wish to enjoy more movies at the cinema, compared to 30% "at home", and 22% want to enjoy watching more sports at home, compared to 16% at the stadium. Lastly, 76% of French consumers say that the pandemic has increased their environmental concerns, and half of them (38%) recognise that it has had an impact on their purchasing decisions.
For AlixPartners, this crisis will reinforce the basic trends already at work. It is forcing the consumer goods industry to draw concrete conclusions in their respective fields. Responsible consumption (organic, local, made in France) has become an evidence and rational consumption has made a significant breakthrough, with consumers discovering that they can live with less, and acting accordingly. "The players offering a mix of proximity / simplicity of shopping, as well as great agility on online offers - home delivery, standard baskets, drive - have emerged as winners from the crisis. General retailers need to sharpen their offer segmentation models by shop in order to better respond to customer needs", explains Sylvain Gasquet, Senior Director in the Retail & Consumer Goods team.