Purchasing power: women tighten their belts more than men

A return that worries consumers. Although the period is always painful for the purchasing power with constrained expenses (supplies, clothing, enrollment, etc.), this year it is more so with the rise in inflation.

This is how Bonial observes it in his barometer prepared by OpinionWay. 85% of the French now have a negative feeling about their purchasing power, 4 points more than last June. 31% of them are still struggling to finance their expenses until the end of the month. Furthermore, 34% believe that their purchasing power does not allow them to live with dignity.

It is women who seem to be more limited in terms of purchasing power. In the Bonial barometer there are significant differences by sex. Thus, if 76% of the men surveyed say they can finance their expenses until the end of the month, only 61% say they can.

When it comes to shopping for pleasure, less than half of women (45%) say they have the ability to do so, compared to almost 60% of men. The same occurs with the ability to save, which is possible for 47% of men compared to only 39% of women. Gaps that reflect salary gaps and perhaps a greater sensitivity of women to changes in prices, particularly of food.

Lidl and Leclerc unbeatable

For their purchases, French consumers continue to prefer Lidl and Leclerc, the two brands they believe can best preserve their purchasing power. 53% of those surveyed believe that Lidl helps them compared to 46% of Leclerc. It follows Carrefour (36%) in progress on this issue and which went ahead of Intermarché (32%). The brands with the worst rating in this area are Monoprix (10%), Biocoop (10%) and Casino (9%).

In non-food purchases, Amazon ranks first (53% of consumers say the site improves their purchasing power) ahead of Action (45%), Decathlon (34%) and Kiabi (28%).

French who claim to continue to restrict themselves. The most sacrificed purchases are hygiene products (53% of them cut these expenses), ahead of gifts for loved ones (50%) and the purchase of food (49%). On the contrary, going out to dinner does not seem to be too affected by the situation: 47% of people say that they still go to a restaurant, 1 point more than in June.

Finally, regarding the government’s measures, it is the blocking of energy prices that the French like best. 81% of them consider this measure useful, ahead of the energy check (69%), the meal check of 100 euros (63%) or even the discount at the pump (61%).