Holiday shopping is about to hit cruising speed, and while consumers still have a month to do their Christmas shopping, the traditional seasonal frenzy could stand out this year with more thoughtful and somewhat more confident behavior from consumers. Quebec consumers, we learn from a study by the Observatory for responsible consumption of the School of Management Sciences at UQAM.
It has been 12 years now that the Observatory for Responsible Consumption (OCR) carries out each year, in collaboration with the MBA Research study group, a survey of a web panel of 1000 respondents to assess their consumer behavior. responsible.
For two years, the OCR’s annual barometer has obviously taken into account the impacts of COVID-19 – containment, health rules, online shopping, etc. – to measure changes in consumer behavior.
The big revelation of this year’s survey is that 57% of Quebec consumers admit that they have changed their consumption habits to make them more responsible.
In other words, a majority of Quebec consumers say they spend less and spend differently for two years by integrating several variables such as local purchase, recourse to repair rather than replacement, price comparison, etc.
That said, after two years of sustained efforts to adapt to the difficult situation that was brought about by the pandemic, fewer Quebec consumers consider their behavior to be responsible. They were 80% to think so last year and 73.8% this year.
“There is a certain weariness, observes Fabien Durif, the director of the OCR. When they self-analyze, Quebec consumers consider that they are doing a little less than at the height of COVID. “
[Les consommateurs] compare prices more, even if it means neglecting local purchasing. With inflation on the rise, people are much more price sensitive, understandably. It is a phenomenon that we observe on a global scale.
Fabien Durif, director of the Responsible Consumption Observatory
The fact remains that general awareness of responsible consumption remains very strong when we look at the rate of 57% of Quebec consumers who believe that their consumption habits have been modified by the pandemic and that they are become more responsible.
In this regard, the generalization of teleworking over the past two years is not unrelated to these behavioral changes that we are observing today. People who spent a lot more time at home wanted to improve their quality of daily life and were given more time to do so.
Work, renovations, sleep
The OCR Barometer 2021 thus reveals surprising data on the recent behavior of Quebec consumers. Thus, in the last month, 46.2% of consumers have consulted tutorials to learn how to do things themselves, a practice up 7.4%.
“Doing it yourself is a good illustration of responsible consumption. It is an economic commitment of transformation. Over the past year, 49.9% of consumers say they have done repairs, 41.2% have renovated more, nearly 40% have done more DIY, these are all activities on the rise, ”emphasizes Fabien Durif.
When we spend the day working at home, the leg of the swinging kitchen table becomes a much more real and pressing reality. When you don’t have to devote two hours of your day to getting to and from work, you can enhance this great availability by developing your skills as a handyman, rather than ordering a new table.
“Quebec consumers have also become more sober in their behavior. The health crisis has made them aware of hyperconsumption while more than 80% of respondents say they have shopped less over the past month, ”continues the director of the OCR.
And to close this virtuous loop, the Barometer tells us that 74% of respondents want to continue the newly acquired habits of more responsible consumption once the pandemic is far behind us.
People intend to take more care of themselves and enjoy the moment rather than resuming the frantic, endless rush of all-cost consumption that has been insidiously forced upon us over the years as a way of life and of self-actualization.
The coming Christmas period is the perfect time to reflect on our behavior and reframe our priorities. The pandemic has been the unfortunate opportunity to make us realize that life is more important than anything.