The impact of inflation: Of all areas of spend, it’s groceries where consumers are most price-conscious

An unexpected global economic slowdown together with tightening financial conditions, an on-going cost-of-living crisis and globally accelerating shrinkflation has made it almost essential for many consumers to be more cost conscious. But which products and services, if any, are consumers most price-conscious about?

Data from a recent YouGov Surveys poll - across 18 global markets – indicates that groceries (55%) top the list of areas where consumers have been the most price conscious over the past six months followed by utilities (36%) and clothing and shoes (35%).

A far lower proportion of consumers say they have been price-conscious when purchasing furniture (11%) and video games (9%).

Of all the markets polled, consumers in Canada (67%) have been most price-conscious when buying groceries over the past six months. While a significantly lower proportion of consumers in the US (58%) say the same, they still outpace their neighbours to the south in Mexico (44%).

Data indicates that APAC consumers are far less price-conscious about groceries than their global counterparts. Less than half of consumers in most markets across the region say they have been most price-conscious about groceries over the past six months (Indonesia, 48%; Hong Kong, 47%; India, 42%; China, 41%). Singapore (56%) and Australia (57%) are the only outliers to this trend.

In some European regions, more than two-thirds of consumers (Poland, 65%; Great Britain, 60%; France, 60%; Denmark, 60%) are cost-conscious about groceries. However, other European markets (Italy, 58%; Spain, 56%; Germany, 56%; Sweden, 55%) align more closely with the views of the global average.

Much like their Mexican counterparts, more than two out of five consumers in the UAE (44%) say they have been most price-conscious when buying groceries over the past six months.

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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 510 and 2,044 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in December 2022. 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. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.