2017. Paris Saint-Germain celebrates with great fanfare the signing of star Neymar, with the aim of crushing European football. Six years later, the Brazilian, battered by life and failures, left the club in near general indifference, with no continental trophy in his bag and a much more mixed record than the crazy ambitions which accompanied his arrival.
This is a bit like the fate that awaits the anti-inflation quarter(s). These end at the end of the year in relative general anonymity, whether in Bercy, in mass distribution and, worse, for consumers. Final proof of the confusion which has continually surrounded this measure: no official end date has been established. Announced with fanfare in March 2023 during the start of the year marked by ceiling inflation (5.6% at the time, 15.9% on food products), the anti-inflation quarter, which will ultimately have lasted a little over nine months, was too lost in its complexities to really leave an impression on people’s minds and wallets.
A missed start
No need to act surprised: from the start, the measure was off to a bad start. Bercy’s initial intention was to define a range of food products in supermarkets which would be protected from rising prices. First major hitch: while the government wanted to establish a mandatory list, the choice of products ultimately fell to the brands themselves, each of which could establish its own list.
Like Neymar’s ankle which turns in his first season, a hiccup from the start. “You have to go through the entire store with your eyes wide open to find which products are affected. Products that rarely match my shopping list, laments Sandrine, 43, in a Carrefour Market in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It’s a real micmac and we can’t figure it out, especially since it changes in each brand. Making the races even more complex, we had to think about it. » Same observation in the butchery section with Maureen, a fifty-year-old who is not really convinced: “Even today, I still haven’t understood the difference with simple promotions, which are sometimes much more profitable. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know this device still existed. »
Too short product selection
An amnesia shared by Grégory Caret, director of the Consumer Observatory at UFC Que-Choisir: “No one talks about it anymore in discussions between professionals, it is no longer a subject that we addresses. Among consumers too, the measure seems to have been completely forgotten. » He also places the free choice left to brands on the products concerned in the dock: “It’s a gift given to mass distribution. There were a lot of products that people weren’t used to putting in their shopping carts, so they weren’t very useful. Because of this, the anti-inflation quarter was an epiphenomenon and not a major measure that changed the situation of the receipt. »
Isabelle Senand, director of studies at the Federation of Commerce and Distribution Companies, refuses “to qualify the measure as anonymous. Consumer feedback was positive and customers were looking for the affected products.” But she recognizes it: the anti-inflation quarter was limited in its impact. “Depending on the stores, they concerned between 150 and 300 products, when a store contains 30,000 on average.”
Effects, what effects?
Marc Touati, economist and president of the consulting firm At the helm of the economy and finance (Acdefi), broadens the focus: “The tariff shield, the energy checks, the anti-inflation quarter… The government has had no stops announcing shock measures, for what effect? Between January 2022 and November 2023, consumer prices will have increased by 10.7% in France, compared to 9.7% in Spain and 8.7% in Belgium. With so many measures announced, we could hope for more results”
Same disappointed observation from Grégory Caret: “In 2023, food products are 25% more expensive than two years ago. Consumers are changing their purchasing habits, either by reducing their volume or downselling. If the goal was to protect purchasing power, it did not work. »
An artificialization of prices which harms the consumer’s vision
Let’s be good players: French inflation was much more limited during its peak than among our Spanish or Belgian neighbors. In the summer of 2022, at the height of the price rise for the whole of Europe, France was experiencing maximum inflation of 6.2%, compared to 10.8% in Spain and 10.5% in Belgium. But as in the European Cup, it is at the end that we count the winners and losers. And that’s where the problem lies: “In the end, the price increase is no less steep,” points out Marc Touati. We can say that these measures have reduced the violence of the summer of 2022, but above all they have blurred the lines. Prices have not risen as much as they should have, and are currently not falling as much as they should. As a result, by artificializing everything with lots of measures, we further alter the consumer’s vision and understanding. »
It remains to be seen whether 2024 will be more successful for the receipt. “There is a deceleration in inflation, and prices have been falling slightly for several months,” rejoices Isabelle Senand. Who warns that everything (or almost) risks being decided at the next major deadline: “Negotiations between manufacturers and large retailers in January will be essential to determine prices for the coming year. » After all, once Neymar left, PSG promised itself again: this year is the right one for the Champions League.