The crisis of purchasing power is reduced in Europe. The last Cetelem barometer in the morale of the home shows tangible signs of improvement. On a scale from 1 to 10 to describe the situation of their country, Europeans put a 5.2 -point note (+0.1 points) and that regarding their personal situation stabilizes 6 points.
It is above all the question of purchasing power that has improved. If in 2024, 48% of Europeans estimated that their purchasing power had decreased in the last 12 months, there are only 39% in thought this year, while more than 50% judge that it has increased or remained stable.
However, in this panorama, the French remain an exception. 48% of them, 9 points more than the European average, consider having lost it for a year. Despite a slight improvement of 7 points, the French are still good in Europe.
“If all Europeans retain their optimism with respect to their personal situation with a note similar to the period prior to the Covid-19 crisis, France illustrates as the only country against the tide of this first indicator with the lowest, indicate the authors of the study.
Purchasing power increases faster than growth
Therefore, while 67% of Europeans declare that they do not have enough financial resources to satisfy their wishes, 84% of the French admit that they have already felt the frustration that prevented them from buying what they wanted.
Economic data show, however, that purchasing power has improved in 2024. And not just a little. “The purchasing power of households would have increased by 2.1%, which is still a double growth,” confirms Dorian Roucher, head of the Insee economic department.
An increase that has also resulted in an explosion of the amount of savings that has broken more records in France and especially part of the income that historically is high in 18%.
How to explain this constantly negative French appreciation in matters of purchasing power?
“The discrepancy between perception and measure is structural, recalls Benoît Heilbrunn, marketing professor at the Escp Business School. In my opinion, it is particularly maintained by the speech maintained by distributors as a Leclerc that permanently victimize consumers when passing For the White Knight.
This point is undoubtedly a French exception. On the one hand, because the great distribution is more powerful there than in many of our neighbors with giants such as E.leclerc, Intemché, Cooperative U, Carrefour and Lidl that represent more than 70% of the purchases of the French.
Brands bosses, influencers
But, above all, another difference with our neighbors, the bosses of these brands are influencers that shape public opinion through their passage in the means of consumption. In Germany, Italy or the United Kingdom, for example, chiefs of large distribution groups almost only intervene in the economic press to comment on their actions.
If these merchants advanced the public debate on the issue of purchasing power, it is because they know or even expected. Does fuel increase? What will Leclerc do? Are cocoa lessons rising? Will Intermark make promotions in Nutella?
“It is only in France that we talk so much, it becomes subjects of hysteria sometimes, assures Benoît Heilbrunn. For a Frenchman, consumption is prestige. It must have the last smartphone, the LED screen in the living room, the food Of the brand, the food of the brand products in the closet, otherwise, we feel degraded.
Hence the brilliant success according to this expert in discount brands of the type of action that offer products of the main brands at armed prices.
*A study in 10 European countries with 10,792 people, including more than 3000 in France.
Source: BFM TV
