Today, the German Society for Consumer Research (GfK) published the study 'COVID-19 Consumer Pulse' on consumer sentiment during the Corona pandemic. According to the results, a third of German consumers expect their financial opportunities to deteriorate in the near future and therefore they plan to adjust and reduce their consumption.
For this study, a total of 500 people aged 16 and above in Germany were interviewed online about their changes in behavior, lifestyle and confidence in the light of the current corona pandemic. The following results refer to the survey period between April 24 and 26, 2020.
These are more details:
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Due to the corona pandemic, 33 percent of German consumers expect their household's financial situation to deteriorate within the next twelve months. Accordingly, a third of the respondents said that they would spend less money on durable goods in the future such as furniture, cars or televisions.
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Another 26 percent of respondents said that they would forego their planned vacation, eight percent wanted to postpone the purchase of furniture and seven percent the purchase of clothing, cars and luxury goods such as watches and jewelry.
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In April 2020, 70 percent of respondents bought products online - in the age group of 16 to 29-year-olds it was even 81 percent.
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The trend towards online shopping is likely to spread to other product groups: For example, German consumers are also planning online purchases for electronic items or garden tools.
Petra Süptitz, GfK expert in the field of consumer insights, said: "We assume that consumers will make very demand-oriented purchases in the near future. Postponed and still necessary purchases will be made up for. These also include products that are more closely linked to stationary retail, such as large electrical appliances requiring intensive advice, such as built-in appliances, but also smartphones, TVs, higher-value small electrical appliances such as fully automatic coffee machines or even baby equipment."
Source: GfK
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