Magazine: Consumer confidence record – but with worries in the background

Ingo Schier, Nielsen’s director in Germany, told to trade magazine Lebensmittel Zeitung at the end of last year that in the first quarter of 2014 consumer confidence was at record height in Germany, but at the same time many people were worried about growing energy prices. In the second quarter consumer confidence dropped a little but Germans remained rather optimistic in comparison with consumers in other European countries.

He added that in general things are going in the right direction in the European Union, and this enhances consumer confidence so he is looking forward to 2015 with optimism. When asked about the stagnation of German grocery retail in 2014, the director told in his answer that competition has been fierce for years. Germans like to buy in discount stores but at the same time more and more of them are looking for quality – and they are willing to pay for it as well. Mr Schier opines that the free trade agreement the EU is about to sign with the USA will strengthen this new, quality-conscious consumer behaviour. Talking about the market chances of various product groups in 2015, the director expressed his opinion that consumption in general can’t be influenced by selling more teeth whiteners. On the contrary, it can be done by selling more milk. The good news is that milk sales exceeded EUR 100 million already in 2014, thanks to the increased prices, which curiously didn’t entail a reduction in demand (unlike in other categories). We eat as much butter and drink as much milk as before. Ingo Schier expects further value sales growth for 2015 in the milk category. As for the biggest challenges ahead, the director mentioned the drink categories. For instance after quite a long time hot drink, especially coffee value sales are dropping. Has the ‘portion market’ (capsules and the like) boom already culminated and saturated the market?