Although the ordinary French consumer is still contented by opportunities to acquire discounted goods, he or she considers the task of getting products at good prices an increasingly complicated one, according to new research.
The findings of L'Observatoire Société Consommation (l'ObSoCo), the Paris-based consumer research body, are likely to be of note in the world of French retail.
The research found that over three quarters (76 per cent) of people who took part in the survey say that they find the process of bargain-shopping difficult. Furthermore, 82 per cent are sceptical of 'normal' prices, since the proliferation of cut prices has made discounts virtually omnipresent. In other words, since so much appears discounted, the 'normal' price of a given product becomes something purely notional.
Some 73 per cent of surveyed individuals feel that there is a problem with inflated prices, i.e. prices that are raised so that they can later be lowered, and thus legitimately bear the word rabais (discount).
L'ObSoCo's research, however, reveals that the French have a somewhat ambivalent attitude when it comes to sales: on one hand, there exists, undeniably, the aforementioned cynicism as to genuine value. On the other, the statistics show that the attention of the regular French consumer is still captured by promotional buzzwords.
© 2014 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article written by Peter Donnelly.
