Paris (AFP)

On the one hand, the desire to show solidarity with regional producers and to eat healthily;

on the other, fears about purchasing power and the perpetual quest for the right price: not easy for consumers, in the time of the coronavirus, to reconcile health and economic concerns.

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Why is it again a question of purchasing power?

It was the big boss of E.Leclerc distributors, Michel-Edouard Leclerc, who posed the dilemma, recently on RTL.

On the one hand, "there is a better reflection on what we eat, we are moving towards more organic, more qualitative things or more qualitative appearances", he believes, but, in the same time, "the question of purchasing power returns".

"The harder times are, the more consumers need to be reassured about the prices of the brands they are going to go to", analyzes Olivier Dauvers, French expert in distribution.

In this case, not only has the coronavirus epidemic regained strength in France and in Europe, but the extent of its consequences on the economy is not yet known.

At the end of July, the Nielsen Institute announced that it had recorded in the second quarter of 2020 the biggest drop in consumer confidence in the world since the index was created in 2005.

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Why do retailers cut certain prices?

“The brands are now changing their semantics, more and more, towards the defense of purchasing power,” continues Olivier Dauvers.

Objective: to work on their "price image", ie the perception that customers have of their prices.

"This is obviously the consequence of prices, but also of everything that surrounds them, the way in which we advertise, the products on which we will perhaps agree to cut our margin" ...

An example, not food but eloquent: last Tuesday, Intermarché and Netto announced to market boxes of 50 surgical masks at 9.95 euros, "cost price", while the selling price of these boxes in supermarkets fluctuated until- there between 20 and 26 euros.

Neither one nor two, E.Leclerc outbid Thursday, announcing to sell these boxes at ... 4.95 euros.

"There is no question of making masks a product of appeal, but we sell them without margin", pleaded Michel-Edouard Leclerc.

Author of a book on the subject, Olivier Dauvers points to a "mathematical" correlation between the price image of brands and their commercial performance.

In this case, it is the market shares of Lidl and E.Leclerc, in particular, which have been growing rapidly since the deconfinement.

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Is it at the expense of quality?

For Michel Biero, executive purchasing and marketing director of Lidl France, of course, quality is not sacrificed on the altar of low price.

"If Lidl wins 400,000 new customers per month, it is by word of mouth, because people know that at Lidl, the sausage is good and costs 2 euros 89, whereas at Monoprix it costs 4 euros 50" .

Here too, Olivier Dauvers qualifies: "on paper, taking care of yourself, of others, of the planet, it costs more".

But "looking for the cheapest price does not necessarily mean degrading all the quality elements": you can work on your purchasing power even by buying only responsible or top-of-the-range products, by finding out which brand it will be in. the cheapest.

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Who consumes "responsibly"?

Be careful, there is a difference between the declaration and the reality of purchases, stress the distributors.

Michel Biero, for example, says that Lidl had sensitized its customers a few years ago on the difficulties of French breeders, "by explaining that there is responsible milk, beef, pork in our stores, and all customers. wanted to help them. "

But at the exit, the same customers had made other choices, pointing out that "there was still a 20 cents difference per liter of milk!"

Last element to be taken into account: the "fragmentation of the food model", documented by ObSoCo (Society and consumption Observatory), between "committed" consumers (18%), wanting to eat more "healthy" or "responsible;" traditional ". (44%), who prioritize above all "pleasure and taste"; and "weakened", (38%), constrained budget. This balance of power dates from February 2020, it remains to be seen to what extent the Covid will do so to evolve.

© 2020 AFP