UDINE. More than half of the families of Friuli Venezia Giulia have been forced to change their consumption styles due to the crisis caused by the pandemic. A crisis which, having hit a larger number of people than the great recession of 2008-2009, is perceived more severely than the previous one.
Reducing waste and excesses and renouncing the purchase of some goods and services were the most widespread and immediate responses, families reacted not only by cutting purchases, but also by changing their consumption styles through a greater search for offers and promotions, by changing the points of purchase and through greater use of e-commerce.
TWO CRISIS IN COMPARISON
Those just described are some of the most salient data emerging from the 2021 White Paper, the research promoted by Federconsumatori and Adiconsum on the distribution network and consumer behavior in Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Financed by the Fvg Region with funds from the Ministry of Economic Development, the work was curated by Alessio Fornasin and Gian Pietro Zaccomer, of the University of Udine, but was also able to make use of the collaboration of the University of Trieste and the Swg.
As emerged on Friday 10 September in Udine, on the occasion of the official presentation, which took place in the Palazzo della Regione in the presence of the regional councilor for productive activities Sergio Emidio Bini, the authors and the research director Swg Rado Fonda, this second White Book arrives eleven years old after the first, and coincides, like the 2010 edition, with a period of severe crisis and contraction in consumption.
An unintended circumstance in the design of the work, which was postponed by a year, but which turned out to be one of the most peculiar and significant characteristics of the survey, as explained by the authors and regional presidents of Federconsumatori and Adiconsum, Angelo D’Adamo and Giuseppe De Martino.
FAMILIES IN DEFENSE
The pandemic, as mentioned, forced one in two families to play defense: more precisely, among the sample of over 600 who were interviewed, 14.2% had to significantly change their consumption and 39.6 % more slightly, for an overall percentage of families affected equal to 53.8%.
Reduction of waste and excesses (56%), renunciation of more demanding purchases (42%), search for promotions (39%), use of the internet for price reasons (26%) and other shops (23%) the most widespread reactions . As for savings forecasts, catering, clothing, culture and leisure are the three spending areas most affected by the cuts.
PERIPHERALS PENALIZED
The most interesting data are those relating to the opinion on the distribution network. Generally positive opinion (for 92% of families) both on the accessibility and on the availability of goods and services in the commercial network, even if 38% of families are not at all able or have little possibility to reach shops on foot, and even one in two families (52%) has difficulty in reaching them using public transport.
These data confirm the gradual disappearance of neighborhood shops, increasingly rare and decreasing also in terms of appeal: 62% of families in fact consider them expensive, against 29% who express a negative assessment on the prices of large retailers, even if at the same time they consider themselves more protected in terms of product information when they go to a neighborhood store.
BOOM E-COMMERCE
But in the challenge between large-scale distribution and medium-small shops, a third player emerges more and more clearly, which continues to erode market share from traditional commerce. It is about e-commerce.
Almost three out of four households (72%) made online purchases in November and December 2020: at the top of the ranking of the most purchased products in the order electronics (including phones), books and multimedia, clothing and products for personal care.
In fifth place are articles for sport and free time. Positive judgment on the quality of the delivery service (92% of users very or fairly satisfied), on the level of information on products sold on the net (91%) as well as, albeit with a slightly lower percentage of satisfied (85% ) on protection in case of incorrect purchase or product defects.
ZERO KILOMETER, HOW MUCH DO YOU COST
Interesting ideas also on preferences for local products. Widely preferred (by 86%) at the same cost, however, they are judged to be more expensive than those coming from further away: 50% consider them more expensive, against 39% who do not find substantial differences and a modest 10% who he deems them more convenient.
CONSUMER PROTECTION
A chapter of the book is also dedicated to consumer protection and to the activities of the associations involved in this front. Known by a large majority (69%) of the interviewees, they are informed about their activity mainly through word of mouth and newspapers, less from the internet or from the direct promotion activities of the associations themselves.
Almost one in three families (31%) has already entrusted at least once to one of them and the most widespread dispute is that on telephone and internet services (28% of cases), followed by banking services (17%) , from the purchase of defective products (10%), from bills (8%) and from travel (6%).
For 55% of the interviewees, consumer associations solve or help solve consumer problems, and 83% of those who have already contacted their counters have solved their problem completely (44%) or partially. But their action is not enough to protect families.
Only one in two, in fact, feels adequately protected, with particularly low levels of protection perceived in the savings sector, where only 45% of families in fact say they consider themselves very or fairly protected. A higher level of protection, with 57% of positive responses, is perceived in terms of consumption in the strict sense, while it drops to 51% in the case of network services.
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