A few weeks ago, Lucie* found a solution to limit the price increase of her shopping basket. The 27-year-old decided to make the most of the discounts offered by home delivery apps. “I go through different applications to do my shopping rather than going to the supermarket to take advantage of their reductions. There is sometimes less 30% on the products offered, she explains. possible occasions, I use two email addresses and two telephone numbers”. Thanks to this little manipulation, Lucie ensures that she saves around 50 euros per month. “I am clearly not the most to be pitied, she assures, but my rent has increased by 20 euros and I live in Paris. Everything is increasing, so I take advantage of every opportunity to save money”.
Recently, the young woman, who works in the press sector, has also opted for another strategy. “When I go to my parents, in the north of France, I take the opportunity to buy what is not expensive there: olive oil, salt, beauty products… And I don’t spit on what they give me from their own races,” she says. Having entered the labor market a few years ago, Lucie never thought of turning to her parents’ pantry again. “I’m not the only one! A friend who works in a start-up takes advantage of free breakfasts at her work. Another uses the electrical outlets at her workplace to charge her scooter, in order to avoid paying electricity at home, she lists. We all do a little bit the same.”
Sometimes these savings can take a more unexpected turn. Alice*, consultant, does not hesitate to “borrow” toilet paper where she can. “It’s always taken,” she admits, half-proud, half-ashamed. The 28-year-old young woman lists “the small savings” she can make: “Last time, I wondered if I should buy office supplies at Monoprix, she says. And then I remembered that as soon as I could, I stole them from the office”.
Opportunity knocks
Promotions, bargain hunting, even pilferage: if the French have let themselves go to consume this summer, the return to reality is brutal. With a inflation rate of 6.5% in August, France is certainly one of the European countries least affected by the phenomenon. But in the current context, more and more French people are targeting good deals. In a survey published on September 1 by OpinionWay for Bonial, a specialist in targeted mobile advertising, 34% of those questioned intend to search for more promotions, ie 2% more than in June.
With each survey, the reflexes are affirmed: according to a survey by the YouGov institute dated September 6, 75% of French people are looking for promotional offers in stores, 70% intend to reduce their shopping basket, and 64% choose cheaper brands. More unexpectedly, the trend also concerns the wealthiest classes. According to a Harris Interactive study conducted for the magazine Challenges, unveiled on August 24, 77% of households earning more than 4,000 euros per month expressed fears about the decline in their purchasing power, ie 19 points more than the previous year. Even more revealing, 77% of these wealthy French people believe that their purchasing power has deteriorated over the previous year – 32% more than in 2021. The same goes for households receiving between 3000 and 4000 euros per month: 82% agree – 27% more than last year. The feeling of “having” to save money affects all social categories. To the point that even some well-to-do households are turning to a “scratch economy”: the opportunity is the thief, everywhere, all the time.
Sharing subscriptions
Astrid*, a 26-year-old communicator, now shares the same reflexes as Lucie. When she returns to her parents in the south-east of France, she does not hesitate to “have large products bought, which are expensive”, such as “olive oil, coffee”. “Several times, lately, I’ve stolen sachets of detergent from my mother. She hasn’t realized it yet, but for me, it’s doing me a lot of service!”, she laughs. His companion, who works in a textile start-up, also brings products from his parents’ home in the Paris suburbs. “We don’t deprive ourselves, but we are more and more careful. We also try to minimize our fixed costs, by sharing Netflix or Spotify type subscriptions with our friends for example”.
A way to save money, which Albert *, 56, executive in a company in the south-west of France also shares. “We pool, he admits. I have the impression that everything has increased a lot, everywhere. There is the Internet, car insurance, house insurance … And shopping. When I see what I leaves every week in my supermarket, I tell myself that I will be careful”. Out of the question, however, for Albert, to change the private label for reputable less expensive brands, such as Aldi recently installed not far from Leclerc, which is favored by his wife. “Oh no, my wife wouldn’t!” he exclaims. She would experience it, he thinks, as a downgrade.
A cost-killer mentality
This attitude, however, seems to be an exception. In recent years, discount giants such as Lidl and Aldi have established themselves in the landscape to no longer limit themselves to popular customers. “The upper classes no longer hesitate to go for more economical offers, of which these brands are a part”, points out Lydia Rabine, strategic insight manager at Kantar Worldpanel. A new attitude, which testifies to a behavior which may seem paradoxical among the wealthiest French people: “These households consume as much as before, and even more than before the Covid, but are now going downmarket to continue buying”, continues the specialist.
Unlike the working classes who have little – if any – leeway, these households have the choice of reducing certain expenditure items, while others remain the same. “When you evolve in a wealthy class in a bad year, you can adopt a “cost-killer” mentality: you still go to the Seychelles, and you leave the children to their grandmother, because you have to budget for the baby-sitter, schematizes Louis Chauvel, professor at the University of Luxembourg, specialist in the middle classes. Faced with inflation that is difficult to control, with strong uncertainties about arbitration, the wealthy classes will adopt the cautious behavior characteristic of the class located just in below”. Here, there is no question of saving money to make ends meet: “The challenge will be to invest the extra savings intelligently if we tighten our belts”, he adds. At present, the savings made by well-to-do households do not seem about to have a lasting effect on their way of life. “They are not going to plan their hobbies, unlike the working classes, who already count every expense to the penny, reports Lydia Rabine. Make no mistake about it: we still have a two-speed France”.