Prominent: Declining purchasing power or not – healthy eating remains a basic need

Declining purchasing power or not – healthy eating remains a basic need

The fact is that purchasing power is falling. How do consumers deal with this and where can even more profit be made – also by the state? Prominent, the tomato brand of Growers United, has taken a closer look at the statistics and comes to a perhaps surprising conclusion: the current economic situation is not as bad as people think.

Consumers have less in their wallets; at least that’s what you read in the press, but that’s not quite true: if you compare the current economic situation with that of two years ago, purchasing power has indeed decreased. But data from the Dutch CBS statistics office show that the current level is the same as in 2015. Since 1990, purchasing power – on average – has risen sharply every year.

Standard of living remains high on average

The regression that consumers now feel is due to several factors. Everyone knows that electricity prices, for example, have risen sharply in the past year. Petrol prices also broke records again and again. But honestly, haven’t we taken our high standard of living too much for granted? A standard of living where the average household could seemingly consume endlessly and anything – whether gastronomic delights to long plane trips – seemed possible.

Healthy eating remains a basic need.

But perhaps the current economic situation is eye-opening because people need to get back to basics. Consumers are being forced to make choices and determine what is really important – e.g. nutrition. Fortunately, healthy products are still affordable for most households, even if it means changing one’s buying behaviour a little. On the one hand, we can see a trend towards eating or shopping less in more expensive speciality shops and restaurants, while on the other hand, (discount) supermarkets are happy about more customers – not least because of the many special offers with which they distinguish themselves every week. Once consumers are in the shop, they no longer just put everything in their shopping basket, but make a more conscious decision.

More realistic (retail) prices for products.

The fact is that food has become more expensive. However, not by 40%, as is sometimes said: Studies show that food has become on average 10% more expensive. This is mainly due to rising production costs, e.g. due to higher energy costs. Does this mean that the (retail) prices of products have become more realistic? After all, consumers in the Netherlands, for example, still pay little for food in international comparison. Considering that on average only 8% of monthly expenditure is spent on food there, a 10% price increase is still manageable for most households.

From healthy products to a healthy economy

Nevertheless, father state could do more to curb the price burden. This could, for example, be a further reduction in VAT on healthy products such as fresh fruit and vegetables. This would mean that consumers could continue to choose healthy food, even those with smaller wallets. Opting for healthy products is a simple choice, but also a smart one – after all, good health is the basis for a productive life and ultimately for a healthy economy.

Foto: Growers United

Tomatoes can also be used to make smoothies.

The current economic situation is not as bad as people think.