Eastern Europe More Materialistic Than West
October 3 2005
Consumers in Central and Eastern Europe are intent on increasing their consumption and more strongly focused on their careers than their counterparts in the West, according to GfK's Consumers in Europe 2005 survey. The research, based on 19,000 consumers in 16 countries, made use of the Euro-Socio-Styles lifestyle segmentation tool.
Results suggest that 42% of consumers across Central and Eastern Europe aim to increase their consumption. Figures range from 24% in Romania to 40% in Russia, 50% in Croatia, and 55% in Poland. Just 39% of consumers in Western Europe plan an increase in consumption. Other findings include:
- 62% of Western Europeans are more interested in personal development than material possessions, while 46% of Central and Eastern Europeans have a materialistic attitude
- Central and Eastern Europeans are only slightly more concerned about price, with 51% preferring lower prices to higher cost quality compared with 49% in Western Europe. Price orientation varies from 47% in Hungary to 56% in Germany and 62% in Poland.
- GfK believes that the same eight distinct consumer lifestyle groups exist in both Western Europe and Central/Eastern Europe. However, there are differences: for example, the consumption-oriented 'dreamers' group constitutes 8% of the West European population but 12% in Central and Eastern Europe.
The survey is based on two waves of research carried out by GfK Lebensstilforschung (Nuremberg), FESSEL-GfK (Vienna) and the respective local GfK companies. At the end of 2003, 7,000 consumers were surveyed across Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain. From the end of 2004 to mid-2005, a further 12,000 consumers were surveyed across Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Hungary and the Ukraine.
GfK is online at
www.gfk.com.
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.
