Stay ahead of the curve and future-proof your business with Mintel’s German Lifestyles Market Report 2024. Our full report is packed with consumer-led market intelligence, lifestyle trends in Germany, and consumer behaviours. Get a 360° view of consumer lifestyles in Germany including a growth forecast to help you align your business strategy with the needs of your audience.
Below, we’ve handpicked the key insights analysed in the full report and summarised the core topics.
Topics Analysed in this Report
- Germany lifestyles market research: Consumers’ overall satisfaction with their life.
- Values that hold the most importance for Germans.
- Expected changes in consumer spending habits in 2024.
- German consumer behaviours in a polycrisis, including preference to focus on personal life instead of the state of the world and reconsideration of life goals due to expectations for more crises to come.
- What German consumers are most looking forward to in 2024.
An Overview of Consumer Lifestyles in Germany
Mintel’s Germany lifestyles market research shows that once inflation levels ease, the German economy will be on its way to recovery.
However, it takes time for consumer sentiment to rebound and cautious spending remains common, along with a high savings ratio.
German Lifestyles Market Research: What Consumers Want and Why
- Cautious Consumers Continue to Look for Affordability: For 62% of Germans, affordability is the most important brand quality, even households with healthy finances are looking out for affordability. Since a complete transition back to pre-recession patterns may take several years, brands are well advised to make affordability a permanent priority.
- Offer Added Value Through Convenience: 52% of German consumers are prepared to pay more for things that make their life easier. Brands can capitalise on this to counteract cautious spending by placing convenience at the forefront of their identities and help consumers navigate their fast-paced daily lives. For example, by focussing on time-saving benefits and encouraging consumers to enjoy their leisure time.
Consumer Lifestyles in Germany: Market Opportunities
- Honesty and safety rank among the top three most important values for German consumers. Mintel’s German lifestyles market research shows that consumers have become more sceptical about product claims and now expect more proof before committing to purchasing from a brand. Hence, brands proving transparency will resonate the most with consumers in Germany.
To learn how to connect with your audience, purchase our German Lifestyles Market Report 2024 in full. Reveal lucrative innovation opportunities to help your business grow during times of financial uncertainty.
Products and Brands Discussed in this Report
Brands: Aldi, Netflix, Carrefour, flaschenpost, FRoSTA, BIPA, Ferrero, Congstar, TikTok, Milka, YouTube, LEGO, Disney, IKEA, Harzverbunden Waldquartier, AVIVA, and more.
Products: Holidays, leisure, entertainment, clothing, accessories, foodservice, technology/communications, food and drink (including premium products), healthcare products, beauty and personal care products, home and garden products, household care products, and more.
Additional Features Included with Your Purchase:
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Expert Insights on Consumer Lifestyles in Germany
This report, written by Dr. Jennifer Hendricks, Senior Analyst, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight lifestyle trends in Germany and add expert context to the numbers.
Our German lifestyles market research shows that brands that position themselves as a source of reassurance and support will be appreciated by German consumers as they navigating through a time of polycrisis. For example, by counting on familiar brand claims or offering moments of escapism.
Dr. Jennifer Hendricks
Senior Analyst – Consumer Lifestyles, Germany
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- The five year outlook for consumer spending
- Market context
- High inflation has eased, but is still affecting consumer sentiment
- Living in a time of polycrisis
- Mintel predicts
- Consumer expenditure to return to more moderate growth after above-average increases induced by high inflation
- Market size and forecast
- Opportunities
- Continue to embrace affordability
- Help Germans make their lives easier
- Position yourself as a trustworthy partner in turbulent times
- Support consumers in getting crisis-resilient
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MARKET DRIVERS
- The German economy
- 2024 is expected to remain challenging
- Graph 1: key economic data, in real terms, 2019-25
- Inflation
- Germany has seen unprecedented levels of inflation
- Graph 2: consumer price index, 1975-2024
- The inflation rate is bouncing back to more conventional levels…
- …but consumers do not yet feel the relief
- Graph 3: selected household and lifestyle issues faced in the last two months, 2022-24
- Years of high inflation are having a lasting impact on Germans’ price perceptions
- Income and household finances
- Slight wage growth in 2023 for the first time in two years
- Graph 4: development of real and nominal earnings and consumer prices, 2020-23
- Consumers’ financial wellbeing indicates a positive trend
- Graph 5: financial situation, 2022-24
- More affluent consumers are the first to emerge from the crisis
- Graph 6: financial situation compared to a year ago, by financial situation, 2024
- Financial confidence has shown first signs of recovery…
- Graph 7: financial confidence index, 2022-24
- …but Germans remain cautious
- Polycrisis
- Germans are navigating through a time of polycrisis
- Population dynamics
- Germany’s low home ownership rate is increasingly becoming an issue
- Birth rates are declining in Germany
- Graph 8: total fertility rate, 2012-22
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- Overall satisfaction with life
- Many Germans are satisfied with their life
- Younger generations tend to be more satisfied with their life
- Graph 9: consumers’ satisfaction with life overall, by generation, 2024
- Support Germans in improving their life satisfaction
- Graph 10: consumers who plan to spend more on selected discretionary categories, by overall life satisfaction (NET), 2024
- Learn from BIPA and help Germans appreciate the little things in life
- Values that are most important to consumers
- Honesty ranks at the top among the most important values
- Graph 11: values that are most important to consumers, 2024
- Champion transparency to appeal to honesty-loving consumers
- Capitalise on empty nesters’ family orientation
- Take inspiration from Ferrero and celebrate family time
- Address Germans’ demand for safety
- Graph 12: consumers for whom safety is among the most important values, by generation, 2024
- Germans stand up for democracy and freedom
- Expected changes in spending behaviour
- Germans continue to follow a cautious approach to spending…
- Graph 13: expected spending changes in 2024 compared to 2023, 2024
- …but the proportion of better-off consumers who are keen to spend is rising
- Justify spending with products and services that make consumers’ lives easier
- flaschenpost calls for consumers to enjoy a free Saturday
- Younger men are prepared to spend more on healthcare products
- Mintel expert view: consider younger men as an aspiring target group in healthcare
- Learn from Norwich City Football Club and de-taboo mental health in more male-dominated sectors
- Cutbacks in food indulgence are prevalent…
- Graph 14: consumers who plan to spend less on selected discretionary categories in 2024 compared to 2023, by age, 2024
- …promoting redirected spending in F&D
- Mintel expert view: money matters, but empathetic premiumisation efforts will resonate with savvy spenders
- The household care market proves to be more resilient, but consumers are still in search of savings potential
- Graph 15: expected changes in spending on household care products in 2024 compared to 2023, by net monthly household income, 2024
- Mintel expert view: now is an opportune time for own-label brands to establish value beyond price in household care
- Brand qualities that are most important to consumers
- High quality and affordability are top of mind…
- Graph 16: brand qualities that are most important to consumers, 2024
- …challenging brands to offer it all
- ALDI SÜD: from Mother Nature for you
- Get prepared for a lasting focus on affordability
- Graph 17: consumers for whom affordability is the most important brand quality, by financial situation, 2024
- Learn from Carrefour x Netflix and combine forces to defend consumers’ spending power
- Be aware of Germans’ fluctuating relationship with sustainability
- Behaviours in a polycrisis
- The polycrisis is taking its toll on Germans
- Graph 18: consumer behaviours in a polycrisis, 2024
- Help Germans lift their mood with mood-boosting claims
- Milka encourages younger consumers to sing
- Help younger generations enjoy the pleasures of life
- Be a source of reassurance in turbulent times
- Graph 19: consumers who say that being loyal to the same brand gives them a feeling of security, by age, 2024
- Tap into the pet market to capitalise on changing life goals
- Graph 20: consumers who say that expectations for more crises to come make them reconsider their life goals, by age, 2024
- “Don’t worry, you can afford it”: IKEA stages rampaging pets to promote its new pet collection
- What consumers are most looking forward to in 2024
- Germans are keen to spend time with loved ones and in nature
- Graph 21: activities consumers are looking most forward to in 2024, 2024
- Bring a piece of nature into Germans’ homes
- Foodservice: leverage the potential of nature to win Germans over
- Tourism: place a focus on social health to resonate with the young
- Mintel expert view: leverage the social aspect of the sports event landscape in 2024
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MARKET SIZE, SEgmentation AND FORECAST
- Total spending is expected to see recovery from high inflation in 2024
- Breakdown of consumer spending
- Graph 22: predicted consumer expenditure in € bn, by sector, 2024
- Housing accounts for the largest share of consumer spending
- Slower food price increases will take some pressure off squeezed household budgets
- Discretionary sectors remain under pressure…
- Graph 23: percentage change in consumer spending in selected sectors, by sector, 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 (fore)
- …while caution prevails
- Consumer expenditure to return to more moderate growth after above-average increases induced by high inflation
- Inflation levels off, but caution remains
- Recovery will continue in the medium-term, driven by the spending power of more affluent consumers
- Stable inflation rates will provide consumers with more confidence in the long term
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APPENDIX
- Appendix – abbreviations, consumer research methodology and language usage
- Abbreviations
- Consumer research methodology
- A note on language
- Appendix – market size and central forecast methodology
- Forecast methodology
- Forecast methodology – fan chart
- Market size and forecast – value
- Market forecast and prediction intervals – value
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