Dinner is served
Germans eat more fresh food than people in France
Contrary to a German proverb about eating like God in France, a consumer survey about fresh food now reveals that people in Germany averagely spend less money for fresh food than in France while eating more of it than their neighbors. The representative survey was held by the market research company OpinionWay on behalf of Bizerba.
According to the survey, 41 percent of German consumers stated that they eat more fresh food today than they did five years ago, while this is the case for only 34 percent in France. Especially women (46 percent) and young people (64 percent) in both countries share this mindset about eating fresh food.
However, the reasons differ in both countries. In France, more than half (53 percent) of the respondents want to eat healthier, followed by the wish to reduce the consumption of pre-processed food (45 percent). In Germany, a fifth of all respondents (20 percent) want to do themselves something good, while one third (34 percent) state cooking as the reason for their increased consumption of fresh food. Approximately 15 percent buy more fresh products when they are on sale in a local store.
French people spend more, but are unsatisfied with the price-performance ratio
Although Germans buy more fresh food, people in France spend more money at the fresh-food counter. On average, Germans spend 131 Euros and French 182 Euros. Maybe the high prices are the reason why French consumers feel fleeced as far as prices are concerned. For instance, 68 percent feel they pay too much for meat. German consumers, in turn, are generally content with the price-performance ratio at the fresh-food counter. More than half of them (56 percent) think that meat prices are fully appropriate.
The fast lifestyle of our modern society affects stomachs in Germany more than in France. 27 percent of the German consumers who eat less fresh food today than five years ago are cooking less (15 percent in France) or generally complain that they do not have the time for cooking (20 percent in Germany vs. 10 percent in France).
German shopping behavior is less affected by price fluctuations
Therefore, financial considerations are among the reasons for the reduced consumption of fresh food in France. More than half of the French respondents buy less fresh products if they have less money at their disposal of if prices rise (51 percent and 53 percent, resp.). German consumers, in turn, are less affected by this (29 percent and 28 percent, resp.).
Consumers in Germany also feel better informed regarding best-before dates and the storage of fresh food. Two thirds know how long things can be eaten (69 percent) or how fresh products should be stored (68 percent), while half of the French consumers (50 percent) negate this. In particular, young people in France under 35 years of age state that they do not know how long they can eat fresh products with no best-before dates without the risk of getting ill.
The survey was held by OpinionWay in July 2016 and January 2017 among more than 2,100 consumers in Germany and France on behalf of Bizerba, the market-leading supplier of technology solutions for the treatment of fresh food.
channels: food retail, customer analysis, marketing research
