Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Affordability is top of mind
Consumer | Retail | Europe
August 3, 2022 – European consumers have increasingly been opting for more affordable retailers. According to our latest European Consumer Pulse Survey, of the consumers who decided to shop at a different retailer in the previous four to six weeks, most turned to discounters. Consumers also reported lower use of other retail formats—particularly specialty grocery and convenience stores, which tend to be higher priced.
To read the article, see “European consumers increasingly react to the stress of rising prices,” July 14, 2022.
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Visual form
Six-panel diverging vertical bar chart by country and retailer format.
Layout / body structure
The chart is arranged as small multiples for Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, and All consumers. Inside each country panel, the same five retailer-format bars are plotted around a zero line, so the reader can compare the shift toward or away from each format within a country and then compare the whole pattern across countries.
What is being compared
The chart compares how consumers who recently switched retailers changed their shopping across Discounter, Supermarket, Hypermarket, Specialty grocery store, and Convenience store. It compares that net shift across five European countries and an all-consumers summary.
Measurement system
The vertical scale runs from negative to positive percentages and is built as a net measure: all shopped-less answers are subtracted from all shopped-more answers. Positive bars show a net move toward that format, and negative bars show a net move away from it.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Each country panel repeats the same color legend and five bar positions. The bright blue discounter bar rises above zero in every panel, while the black supermarket bar and the darker blue, gray, and lavender bars for hypermarket, specialty grocery, and convenience generally fall below zero. Germany shows the tallest positive discounter bar, and the UK shows the deepest negative convenience-store bar.
Main takeaway from the visual
The chart shows a broad affordability trade-down across Europe. Consumers are moving toward discounters and away from most other grocery formats, especially the typically pricier specialty and convenience channels.
Key standout values or extremes
Germany has the strongest positive discounter shift at about +28, with the UK and Spain both near +22 and the all-consumers summary near +19. On the downside, Germany and France both show specialty grocery near -29, the UK shows convenience near -32, and the all-consumers panel shows specialty grocery around -24 and convenience around -27.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.