{"id":24645,"date":"2023-02-07T14:26:04","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T13:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/lobservatoire-cetelem-de-la-consommation\/avant-propos"},"modified":"2025-11-27T17:31:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T16:31:34","slug":"foreword","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/lobservatoire-cetelem-de-la-consommation\/from-forced-choice-to-smart-purchase-a-low-cost-to-suit-everyone\/foreword","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Foreword<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"container\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">The latest <a href=\"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/barometer-observatoire-cetelem-2023\">Cetelem Barometer<\/a>, which was published at the start of the year, pointed to the \u201cinevitability of inflation\u201d, to quote one of the titles of the survey, and to the consequences European consumers were predicting last year.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">The aim of the report was no longer to predict its magnitude, but rather to assess the impact of an economic phenomenon which, for the preceding 40 years, was thought to have been eradicated for good. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Through this recent Barometer, Europeans voiced their feelings about their purchasing power, which more than half of respondents felt had fallen. This sense was particularly strong in the Northern and Western European countries. In this turbulent economic climate, consumption was holding firm, while saving had fallen into decline, having risen in popularity during the public health crisis.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">As for the consequences of rising inflation, this latest survey highlights the increased fragility of consumption, due to individuals having to make certain trade-offs.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">64% of respondents said they had decided against making certain purchases over the last 12 months. While these decisions were mainly to the detriment of travel, holidays and leisure activities (6 out of 10 respondents), expenses that people feel they can live without, nearly 4 out of 10 Europeans also refrained from purchasing day-to-day items or fuel, which are generally deemed essential <strong>(Fig.&nbsp;1)<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container block-infographie\">\n  <div class=\"infographie\">\n                    <div class=\"infographie-header\">\n            <p id=\"infographie-32260\">\n            Fig 1 &#8211; Renunciation of expenses for financial reasons\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <a\n            class=\"download download-link\"\n            href=\"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/infographie-01-en.png\"\n            download\n            aria-describedby=\"infographie-32260\"        >\n            Download this infographic for your presentations\n        <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n          <div class=\"infographie-image-wrapper\">\n                          <figure>\n          <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/infographie-01-en.png\" alt=\"Graph showing the types of expenses abandoned and a total of 64% renunciation\" class=\"img-fluid\"  aria-describedby=\"figcap-32260\"\/>\n          <span class=\"sr-only\" id=\"figcap-32260\">\n            The infographic indicates the percentage of respondents who have renounced different types of expenses in the last 12 months due to a lack of financial means. The percentages correspond to &#8220;Yes&#8221; responses.\n\nData from horizontal bars:\nTravel and vacations: 51%\nLeisure activities (sports, culture, etc.): 48%\nFuel: 29%\nDaily expenses (food, hygiene, etc.): 29%\n\nAdditional data:\n64% of respondents declare having renounced at least one expense.\n59% indicate a renunciation related to leisure or vacations.\n39% indicate a renunciation related to fuel or daily expenses.\n\nThe renunciations mainly concern travel and leisure, while essential expenses or those related to fuel are less often mentioned.\n\nSource: Cetelem Observatory 2023\n          <\/span>\n        <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mentioning inflation and a reluctance to consume in the same breath naturally raises the issue of price which, in these tough economic times, has become more crucial than ever. And consumers inevitably want prices to be as low as possible. The low-cost concept is a double-edged sword that is both universally appealing and a necessity for many.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest Cetelem Barometer, which was published at the start of the year, pointed to the \u201cinevitability of inflation\u201d, to quote one of the titles of the survey, and to the consequences European consumers were predicting last year. The aim of the report was no longer to predict its magnitude, but rather to assess the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1925,"featured_media":24361,"parent":24626,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"t-etude-chapitre.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24645","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24645"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33402,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24645\/revisions\/33402"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}