Ambiente What are Europeans shopping for?

Messe Frankfurt publishes IFH study on “Consumer expenditure in Europe”

Which consumer goods come top of the shopping list among EU citizens? Coffee-making machines? Handbags? Jewellery? Or even vacuum cleaners? How have sales developed in Europe between 2010 and 2015, both in the individual countries and across all borders? Questions to which the new study from Messe Frankfurt entitled “Consumer expenditure in Europe” brings an answer. The facts and figures for the report have been researched by IFH Retail Consultants of Cologne and cover six different markets: glass, porcelain, ceramics and household goods; small electrical appliances; small furniture; jewellery; garden equipment and garden decoration; and leather goods and accessories.  

“The new study from Messe Frankfurt shows not only in which country most is spent on what products. It also demonstrates in which countries there is still potential for various goods”, says Stephan Kurzawski, from the Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH management board. “The different trend in demand in the individual countries is subject to both commercial and cultural factors; when it comes to some of the results, this can definitely lead to surprises.” The study shows that vacuum cleaners are the electrical appliances for which EU citizens are prepared to pay most. When it comes to tea and coffee machines, you think primarily of a latte macchiato in Bella Italia, or of British tea-time, you may be surprised at the results of the present study. For the fact is that most is invested in tea and coffee drinking in two countries: Austria and Germany. On this comparison, the Austrians come absolutely top: 27 percent of their total market volume of electrical appliances is accounted for by automatic tea and coffee machines. In Germany, it is a good 20 percent.   The sector covering glass has grown by a whole five percent. For garden furniture the southern Europeans dig deepest in their pockets on an EU comparison, at EUR 72.99 per head. When it comes to garden decoration, the Germans are the undisputed European champions. 40 percent of expenditure in this market is accounted for in Germany by decorative items for balcony, terrace and garden. In France, by comparison, it is only 16 percent, and in Spain even less than 10 percent. The remainder is spent on outdoor furniture.