Global: Are consumers still being affected by the global supply chain crisis?

Product shortages, shipping delays and rising costs caused by the pandemic, among other reasons, prevent consumers from having a smooth shopping experience. In a new YouGov survey, consumers from 18 markets across the globe were asked if they had encountered any of these problems in the past month.

Out of the 18 markets surveyed, more than 50% of consumers in eight countries say they are finding that items are costing more than they would usually expect.

The North American markets are more likely than the global average to find products to be more expensive – Canada (63%), US and Mexico (59% each). Consumers in a few European markets are less likely to say they’ve noticed a price surge – Italy (38%), Denmark (39%), Sweden (40%) – but significant numbers are still noticing price rises.

While around two in five global consumers (43%) say they have faced product shortages, this percentage increases significantly among Britons (64%). From cars, petrol and tech to chocolate, milk and meat, British consumers have had to deal with all sorts of shortages. In North America, more than half of American (57%) and Canadian (56%) respondents say they have experienced ‘out-of-stock items’, but that score is much lower among urban Mexicans (43%). In some markets product shortages are not as pronounced – Hong Kong (17%), Italy (23%) and Poland (24%).

Nearly three in five Australians say they’ve experienced shipping delays in the last month (58%), which is 19 points higher than global respondents (39%). Canada and the US, follow the island continent, with around half their consumers saying the same (50% and 49% respectively). Poland (23%), Italy (24%) and Hong Kong (20%) continue to be the least affected places.

Overall, more than a quarter also say that shipping costs have gone up (27%), with Australians more likely (34%) than other nationalities to say so. It’s in Asia and North America where consumers are most likely to say that they are facing rising shipping costs, with roughly a third of respondents indicating that they have noticed this change. China is the exception with only around a quarter of its consumers (24%) noting increased dispatch charges. Germany (14%), Denmark (18%) and Italy (17%) have fewer than two in ten consumers who’ve experienced this change.

Receive monthly topical insights about the retail industry, straight to your inbox. Sign up today.

Discover more retail content here

Want to run your own research? Start building a survey now

Methodology: The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 513 and 2,172 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in December 2021. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples.