A new study by online savings platform BravoDeal reveals the top countries with the savviest consumers as part of the Smart Shopper Index, a global ranking of the top countries where consumers are the savviest with their spending habits and their savings.
France crowned top country for smart shopping
The study analysed several consumer habits including household savings and debt, purchase consideration, overall spending relative to cost of living, and food spending relative to cost in all OECD countries for which data was available, and aggregated these in a points-based index to find out which countries have the most discerning shoppers.
France tops the ranking for the smartest shoppers, according to the new index, scoring highest on the considerate purchasing scale and an overall score of 421 points. The French also rank third when it comes to household savings, losing out only to Germany and the Netherlands. In second place, coming near the top of the list with 312 points is Ireland, as a result of its shoppers’ overall spending and food spending savviness. Germany comes in third in the ranking, with a score of 288, with Germans’ household savings being the highest in the OECD countries analysed.
Rounding up the top five countries are the United States in fourth place, a country with a high propensity to save up, and savvy overall spending habits, and Norway, in fifth place, coming top for overall spending relative to cost of living.
The most popular brands and shopping categories with savvy consumers
The study dug deeper into Google search data for 7 of BravoDeal’s biggest markets in the rankings – the UK, France, Germany, the US, Italy, Spain and Poland, uncovering a positive correlation between search behaviour and shopper savviness.
Fashion is the top shopping category in four of the seven countries analysed, when it comes to savings and discounts, with fashion retailers leading the ranking of the most popular brands with smart shoppers – Kohl’s retail chain in the US, ranking in second place, with 14m monthly searches, online fashion giant Asos and sports retailer JD in forth and fifth place respectively, in the UK. Similarly, Germany’s ranking is dominated by fashion and lifestyle retailers, with e-commerce company Otto leading the ranking, followed by fashion retailers Zalando and Asos.
US ranked fourth in the top countries with savviest shoppers
Only 4 points behind Germany, the third in the smart shopper ranking, US consumers rank fourth for both overall spending and food spending relative to cost. They also score high in terms of household savings, ranking ninth in the top ten countries with the highest savings rate.
When it comes to online searches, the top two brands that Americans search for in relation to savings were arts and crafts brand Hobby Lobby, followed by retail giant Kohl’s, while online food delivery company Doordash ranked fifth as the most searched for.
In terms of search volume, after adjusting for population, Americans search for savings over 10 million times a month, ranking 4th out of the 7 countries studied. With by far the largest population of all our markets, it was surprising how few searches there were in comparison to the Europeans – close to three times less than France and less than half compared to the UK.
Marco Farnararo, CEO at BravoDeal, said: “What consumers regard as being smart with their shopping differs from country to country, and our study explores how different factors impact their overall shopping savviness. While online searches may tell one story, there are different variables that come into play, especially looking at spendings relative to cost or household savings. It’s interesting to see that although many shoppers continue to value more traditional deals and discount categories such as fashion and lifestyle, other categories that surged in interest during the pandemic, such as online food delivery, arts and crafts and even gaming are peaking their interest.”
For more information about the study, please visit: https://www.bravodeal.com/smart-shopper-index
