In France, coffee drinkers prefer espresso for the social aspect!

 

This result comes from a study conducted by Starbucks/StrategyOne on consumption habits and espresso consumption of French people, at the occasion of the launching in France of the first double espresso offer.

 

Indeed, the study proves and confirms that French people are fond of espresso at home but continue to consume espresso outside. 40% of interviewees prefer espresso as coffee type, faraway front of European countries such a Germany (9%) and UK (8%), where people prefer soluble coffee (litter of coffee), appreciated by only 20% of French. Furthermore French consumers are very demanding regarding the quality of their coffee (expectations): 67% are pretty demanding and 21% really demanding. Preference for espresso depends on the age. Actually, for people more 34, it is the first coffee type at 50%. This preference for espresso raises with the age. Women are the most enthusiasts at 54%, against 35% for men. Moreover, French people are big consumers of coffee: 37% of them drink at least one espresso per day (against on average 18% in Europe), 21% more than one per day.

 

For French people, espresso is gluttony, a real weakness. ¾ of them are willing to do savings, sacrifices to be able and continue consuming their coffee outside their home. They are ready to reduce buyings in entertainment (CD, DVD 72%; music or theatre 68%; cinema 53%), one person out of 2 in shopping (60%), in beauty (hairdresser 53%). To confirm this trend, we can notice that people are not able to do without coffee rather than Facebook/Twitter (72 % vs. 28 %), as well as for dessert (58 % vs. 42 %) or even as well as in wine (66 % vs. 34 %). In addition, 1 out of 3 thinks being twice less performing without a coffee and 1 out of 5 thinks its productivity is reduced of 75%.

 

Why French people are social consumers of espresso? Because it’s a dimension that is often relevant in the survey. For 23%, the consumption of coffee is a routine. However, according to 27% of them, they are social consumers, that means for them, drinking a coffee is a moment of relaxation, to be with its friends, colleagues and exchange with them. By the way, when we ask them where they drink coffee usually, coffee bars/stores is the favourite space (61%), with home (60%) and forward office (28%).

 

This study has been realised by StrategyOne for Strabucks EMEA, between February 10th and 18th 2012. 7’000 consumers interviewed in 10 European countries, with an online survey of 15minutes about consumption habits and importance of coffee in the daily life. In France, the survey has been done with 1’000, representative of the French population according their age, sex, profession and address.