Why do French shoppers condemn what big brands charge, and go on paying it for their own? For the first wave of the Nabel Consumer Goods Barometer, we interviewed 259 people who do their household’s grocery shopping — every one of them by voice, in four days.
TRACKER
Guilty in General, Innocent in My Basket Consumer Goods Barometer · France
Sept 2026 fieldwork · 259 voice interviews · 4 days of fieldwork
They condemn the premium. They keep paying it.
61%
say big brands don’t justify their price gap, and one in two plans to buy fewer of them within three months.
77%
find their own favourite brand’s price justified — including 71% of those who condemn the gap in general.
86%vs 80%
trust private labels, against big brands. Store brands have stopped being a fallback.
7 of 190
mention transparency when invited to say one thing to big brands. 111 of them talk about price.
Lower your prices, you bunch of stinkers.
Man, 18–34, north-east France, asked what he would say to big brands · quote translated from French, audio shortened
Methodology
Mainland France · 18–21 Sept 2026
259
respondents, all responsible or co-responsible for their household’s grocery shopping
259
voice interviews conducted by the Nabel agent
18 min
median length of a completed interview
4 days
of fieldwork
What they drop, what they keep, and why
The full report goes further. 29 pages, in French:
- Six findings on price, private labels, loyalty and trust
- Shoppers’ own words, transcribed from the voice interviews
- Three opportunities for brands, retailers and insights teams
- The full interview guide and methodology