In many areas, there will have been a before and after Covid. The arrival of a new pathology, the confinements, the increased use of teleworking have changed our relationship to the world, to professional life, to others. Some things, on the other hand, seem immutable. Like the ranking of the favorite brands of the French, drawn up each year since 2010 by the OC&C group (“Back to basics. How to retain consumers in times of crisis”, study carried out in 2022 in 9 countries.).
In 2022, Decathlon comes first, followed by Fnac and Picard. Three names that have been regularly in the top 5 since 2017. “We expected to see discount specialists like Lidl or e-commerce giants like Amazon tumble into this ranking. However, nothing happened,” confirms Jean-Baptiste Brachet, partner in charge of consumer goods in this strategy consulting firm.
Leclerc, the only retailer in the top 10
For him, this impressive constancy is explained by the fact that “the dominant criterion for consumers remains, not low prices in absolute terms, but a good quality-price ratio”. By this yardstick, the sports giant Decathlon, which therefore comes first, is appreciated “both for its good price image, and for its prices considered transparent, but also for its sporting goods deemed durable, robust and innovative”.
In second place, Fnac has managed to personalize its customer relationship thanks to digital technology. “In line with Darty and its famous contract of trust, Fnac, now married to Darty, has been able to re-establish a bond of trust with its customers”, explains Jean-Baptiste Brachet.
Note also, in this top 10, the Swedish brand Ikea which has taken full advantage of the confinements; Grand Frais, whose products are certainly quite expensive but of good quality, without forgetting a distributor, only one moreover, the E. Leclerc centers, “whose boss Michel-Édouard Leclerc, has communicated widely on the fact that they were very involved in terms of attractive rates”.
Like Sephora (9th), two other beauty brands (Marionnaud and Nocibé) are also cited in this study as combining reasonable prices and quality items. “This sector is seen as allowing you to have fun at reasonable prices, like when you buy a lipstick”, deciphers Jean-Baptiste Brachet.
Action, champion of “low prices”
Of course, in times of declining purchasing power, consumers want the prices of the items they buy to be calculated as accurately as possible. As part of its investigation, OC&C also asked them which brands stood out on the criterion of the lowest prices. The Dutchman Action, which has won two million new customers in France in the space of a year, tops the podium, just ahead of Primark and, totally new, the Chinese fast-fashion giant, Shein.
But the food discounters, Lidl and Aldi, only come in 6th and 4th place in this ranking. “The sector in which consumers are most demanding to have very low prices is clothing,” underlines our OC&C expert. This explains several recent disappointments in this sector, whether it is the judicial liquidation of Camaïeu, or the even more recent concerns of Kookaï or Pimkie.
Two other lessons should be learned from this very dense study. The first ? The so-called “on-line” purchasing channel (drive orders, for home delivery, or even click and collect), far from settling down, continues to progress. It represented 21% of purchases in 2019 and now 31% of purchases in 2022. All generations, including the oldest, buy but also consult more online. In short, a step has been definitely taken.
“Sustainable”, an essential purchasing criterion
Finally, the concern for “sustainability has progressed at breakneck speed”. It has become an essential purchase criterion for 60% of consumers surveyed. And even for 50% of baby boomers, sometimes made aware of the concerns of the planet by their grandchildren.
“This environmental awareness also explains why the American e-commerce giant, Amazon, has not been mentioned in our general hit parade since 2019, despite its good results in France”, concludes Jean-Baptiste Brachet. . The e-commerce giant nevertheless still occupies the top of the podium, for the criteria “ease of purchase” and “breadth of range”. Useful, yes, valuable, still not.