Sectors and brands: a dominant triumvirate

Clothing, food and air travel: top of the low-cost tree

While the low-cost concept has gradually spread to all sectors, three in particular have grown to embody the concept more powerfully. Clothing, food and air travel are the three sectors most synonymous with low-cost products, according to 66%, 62% and 58% of Europeans, respectively. In fourth place is mobile telephony, which reflects how successful operators have been in developing low-cost offerings in what is often a highly competitive field. Conversely, the car industry, a market in which Dacia’s success caused something of a paradigm shift, is rarely associated with the low-cost concept (39%). The same goes for banks, despite the emergence of a substantial online market, as well as energy, a sector that has recently been opened to competition in a number of countries (Fig. 8).

Lidl, Ryanair and Aldi: a renowned trio

Thus, three sectors stand out, but so do three brands.
Lidl tops the list, having been cited spontaneously by 16% of Europeans, followed by Ryanair, the brand that revolutionized the airline industry, and Aldi, the first established retailer to take the low-cost route (Fig. 9).

But although these three brands have a truly international reach, a geographical analysis highlights certain particularities specific to each country. Poland’s Biendronka, for example, is a decidedly local low-cost phenomenon (Fig. 10).