Consumption: in the Grand-Est region, the crisis has changed the habits of cross-border commuters

An area of cross-border cooperation at the heart of Europe, the Grande Région comprises several territorial entities belonging to four countries: Germany, Belgium, France and Luxembourg. This large cross-border area is characterized by several major flows of cross-border work, of which Luxembourg and Saarland are the main recipients, and Lorraine the main "supplier".

Béatrice Siadou-Martin, University of Montpellier; Colette Grandmontagne, University of Lorraine; Hélène Yildiz, University of LorraineMathias Boquet, University of LorraineNicolas Dorkel, University of Lorraine and Rachid Belkacem, University of Lorraine

These Belgian-French-German-Luxembourg borders are characterized by large and growing flows of cross-border workers. Luxembourg alone attracts more than half of all cross-border workers in the Greater Region. The Luxembourg-City conurbation is the leading destination for cross-border commuters living in France, ahead of Geneva. The French working in the Grand Duchy are joined by Belgians and Germans. As a result, cross-border commuters account for almost 44% of Luxembourg's working population.

In mid-March, the temporary closure of borders or the introduction of border controls disrupted the daily lives of border residents, both in terms of employment and consumption, which also determines the reasons for travel: food, clothing, leisure activities, equipment, etc. In Luxembourg, for example, massive telecommuting has made businesses acutely aware of just how important these employees are to their sales.

Relocalized consumption

Our survey carried out during the March-April 2020 lockdown shows that 25% of households in the Grand-Est region living less than 25 km from a border regularly shop abroad for essential goods, and 31% occasionally.

Among these households, while 14% and 32% declare no or low impact on their consumption, 35% and 18% of respondents declare a moderate and strong impact respectively.

The intensity of impact is also linked to distance from the border. Those who admit to having been strongly impacted live on average 7.6 km from the border, compared with 12.6 km for those who say they have not been impacted.

But above all, telecommuting, which was widespread and strongly followed during the confinement of the spring, led individuals to relocate their purchasing locations close to home, particularly when this was possible with sufficient local supply. The various forms of consumption by cross-border commuters have been impacted, as opportunistic purchases, as well as those linked to organized travel, have decreased with the flow of workers.

Between rupture and opportunity

Indeed, crossing the border for work necessarily leads these workers to make opportunity purchases, which have the characteristic of facilitating their supply. Marketing literature shows that consumers make their purchases as part of their life course: buying bread on the way from work to home, taking advantage of an administrative procedure to go to a clothing store, etc.

What's more, while purchases of products taxed differently on either side of the border are motivated by budget optimization, hedonic purchases (clothing, leisure activities) or well-considered purchases (cars, household appliances) are driven by criteria of quality or complementarity of supply. Consumers have no hesitation in competing with outlets on either side of the border. And that's without taking into account commercial evasion due to digitalization...

Between rupture and opportunity, from a business point of view, the border has until now offered a playground for the deployment of various consumer strategies. Retailers' location strategies were based on flow criteria, and not just on the number of inhabitants in the catchment area. But if local consumption trends take hold in the wake of the crisis, this function could be partially eroded.

Béatrice Siadou-Martin, University Professor of Management Sciences, University of MontpellierColette Grandmontagne, Senior Lecturer, University of LorraineHélène Yildiz, Senior Lecturer in Management Sciences, University of LorraineMathias Boquet, Associate professor, University of LorraineNicolas Dorkel, Spatial Analysis Engineer, University of Lorraine and Rachid Belkacem, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Lorraine

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.