Increasingly service-oriented consumption

NON-MATERIAL ITEMS HOLD EVER GREATER APPEAL

The stated desire of Europeans to consume differently is also reflected in the nature of the purchases they make. Indeed, they express a keenness to make more non-material than material purchases (43% vs. 37%).

Whether we are talking about the former or the latter, there are significant variations between the countries. In contrast to the disregard for material items shown by the French (30%) and to a lesser extent the Germans (32%), 1 in 2 Romanians are keen to buy something tangible. When it comes to non-material consumption, the Franco-German pairing are again similarly inclined to curb their spending, while the Spanish, Swedes and Portuguese are ready to splash out (Fig. 26).

Younger respondents are almost twice as likely as their elders to state that they have increased their spending in both of these categories. And one must head to the big cities to see a sharp rise in intangible expenditure, providing confirmation if any were needed that the services available to city dwellers have been a resounding success.

SPENDING ON NON-MATERIAL ITEMS HAS RISEN SIGNIFICANTLY

This shift on the part of Europeans towards more intangible consumption is reflected in the results of the various business sectors concerned. This can be traced back to recent technological advances in information technology, not least the launch of the iPhone by Steve Jobs on 9 January 2007 and the creation of the Internet a few years earlier.

While the Covid crisis was a high point for many of the services on offer, their dominance of the consumer landscape has continued over the last few years, despite inflation. Music and video streaming platforms, home delivery services and Airbnb-style rentals are almost universally experiencing growth, in all the countries covered by the Observatoire. Even air travel, a sector that is probably singled out more than any other for the harm it does to the environment, is returning to pre-Covid levels, setting new records in the process.

To give an example, intentions to purchase a subscription to a video streaming platform over the next 12 months confirm that the trend towards immaterial consumption has a bright future ahead of it. In all countries, with the exception of Portugal and even more so Germany, these intentions have risen sharply. Moreover, since 2019 they have increased markedly in all the countries surveyed, with an average rise of 14 points (Fig. 27).