Consumer spending focuses on experiences and basic needs

The study sets out to answer three key questions about the shopping preferences of consumers: what, where and when are they willing to change?

What?

Travelling has remained important for consumers. In spite of the price increase, plane ticket bookings were up 19% in May-August 2022 if compared with the 2019 level. Consumer spending on eating in restaurants grew by 25% from the same period of 2021, while FMCG sales rose by 14% – mainly because of the rising prices. Online FMCG sales were 70% higher than before the pandemic.

Where? 

The lockdown and the quick move to e-commerce that were entailed by the pandemic put huge burden on small businesses, but then those small businesses which offer services online (e.g. filing people’s tax declarations, teaching, etc.) could grow about twice as fast as their large counterparts. This was especially true for small businesses in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Italy and Spain.

When?

Those days are gone when we only went shopping on certain days. Today we can shops anywhere and anytime, therefore retailers, restaurants and others need to rethink their staffing, supply and technological background. Bricklin Dwyer, chief economist and head of the Mastercard Economics Institute told: consumers have adopted a new pace of life, and this comes with modified shopping preferences. //