2023 European Consumer Trends & Attitudes (Report)

Are European consumers different from consumers elsewhere in the world? Marigold, in conjunction with Econsultancy, asked 7,392 consumers across Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, and the Benelux region) for their thoughts on 2023.

Here’s some of what they found, all reported in the Europe Consumer Trends Index 2023. The 41-page report focuses on European consumer attitudes and trends in six areas: messaging, brand loyalty, privacy and personalization, the rising cost of living, and consumer sentiment by industry.

The goal of the report, the authors wrote, “is to arm you not only with the statistics that matter when it comes to aligning with consumer needs, but also bring perspective and guidance in the key areas that are crucial to relationship marketing.”

Key takeaways from the report include the following:

1) Social media advertisements are the most popular channel for purchases at 50%, trailed closely by email (48%) and social media (47%). SMS/MMS messages and banners are significantly less common at 24% each.

2) Brand loyalty is on the rise, with 58% of consumers prepared to pay more to purchase from their preferred brands. Nearly two-thirds of consumers (64%) cited the loyalty program of their favorite brand as either important or critically important to winning their lasting loyalty.

3) Core problems. Consumers are loyal by nature, but take them for granted and they will shop elsewhere. Nearly 4 in 10 (38%) said they switched from a favored brand in the past 12 months, citing a poor loyalty program, their online customer experience, and data privacy issues as core problems.

4) Trading data for personalization. The majority of consumers want to receive personalized content and offers from trusted brands and will readily share personal data in return. However, consumers are clear that they prefer brands that use data they’ve explicitly shared directly with the brand. Six in 10 (58%) consumers said they felt cookie-fueled ads were a creepy marketing tactic.

5) Global economic uncertainty. Consumers are incredibly concerned about current global economic uncertainty. Nearly two-thirds (64%) said they were very pessimistic about both the rising cost of living and economic outlook. Six in 10 said they are making fewer impulsive purchases (60%), doing more research (50%), waiting for sales (49%), and relying on loyalty benefits (43%) when purchasing from their favorite brands.

6) Online privacy. As privacy regulations become the norm and third-party tracking cookies edge closer to curtailment, the vast majority of consumers (72%) are unaware that Google will soon cease tracking activity online this way. However, among those who are aware of the impending withdrawal of cookies, 33% are glad, and a further 34% are optimistic it will improve their relationship with brands.

Find out more about Marigold and download the report (free) here.