France’s great consumption slump
“Consumers have only one priority, and that’s to have food on their plates,” observed Michel Biero, Lidl’s number two in France. “And they do so with canned tuna rather than salmon, and minced beef rather than rib steak.” In his opinion, one figure in the sales of the company’s more than 1,600 supermarkets in France illustrates the difficulty French people have in making ends meet: the popularity of “flash sales,” with power tools, food processors, and textiles at knock-down prices. The “bargain bins” used to entice many customers when they were filled up with discounted products twice per week. But that’s no longer the case. “Before the Covid-19-related crisis, the war in Ukraine and the inflationary crisis, non-food products accounted for 10% of store sales; today, we’re between 6% and 6.5%. Anything over €10 is selling less well,” said Biero. Despite the fall in inflation – it fell to 1.2% in September year-on-year, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), down from 4.9% a year earlier – the recovery in consumption, …