Grocery shopping with a mask – one in three Germans finds it uncomfortable
Going to the supermarket has become a real ordeal for many people during the pandemic: According to a representative survey by the market research company Appinio, one in three Germans says they find grocery shopping in the supermarket unpleasant. This is one of many results of the so-called FMCG report, in which Appinio asked Germans about their consumer behavior during the corona crisis.
The most common reasons given for the unpleasantness of grocery shopping are the mandatory face mask (37 percent), stress (37 percent), long queues at the checkout (32 percent) and the high risk of infection due to insufficient distance (25 percent). For older respondents in particular, both the face mask and the potential risk of infection make shopping an unpleasant experience.
One of the consequences of this is that more and more Germans are having their groceries delivered. According to Appinio, more than one in four Germans has had groceries or ready meals delivered to their home in the past seven days. Delivery services such as Lieferando dominate with 71 percent, followed by online grocery delivery services such as Amazon Fresh (16 percent) and meal kit providers such as HelloFresh (14 percent). Younger consumers are the most willing to switch to online grocery shopping: more than one in three people aged between 25 and 34 say that they no longer buy groceries exclusively in stores. Among 55 to 65 year olds, the figure is just 15 percent.
In multi-person households , women are more likely to be the purchasing decision makers than men: overall, 72 percent of women and 55 percent of men make all or at least more than half of all purchases. 24 percent of purchasing decision makers said that they are currently spending more money on average on food purchases , while only 12 percent say that they have spent less money since then. People are also shopping less overall at the moment, but are cooking (much) more often with fresh food at home (26 percent).
Meat consumption has also changed during the pandemic. Overall, 38 percent of Germans say they have eaten (much) less meat in the past six months than before. One in four Germans no longer describes themselves as an "omnivore" - 15 percent say they are flexitarians, six percent vegetarians, four percent pescetarians and two percent vegans. Young people, women and students are the most likely to avoid meat or certain animal products in their diet.
The main reasons given are healthy eating (64 percent), commitment to animal welfare (50 percent) and, in third place by a wide margin, the reduction of CO2 emissions (28 percent). The latter plays a rather minor role, especially for the older population, when it comes to their meat consumption. They pay particular attention to a balanced diet.
Source: Appinio surveyed a total of 2,000 Germans for the study between September 22 and 29, 2020. The results are representative of the German population by age and gender.
