Three in four (74 per cent) shoppers in Europe are now more likely to shop in their local communities than they were a year ago, according to new research released by Mastercard.
The research suggests people around Europe are spending more locally to help local communities bounce back in the same way (49 per cent), with new found relationships with local shopkeepers and independent stores (28 per cent) and trusting in recommendations from people in the community (26 per cent) also popular reasons for the increased love for local.
Two thirds (65 per cent) of European say they have a new found appreciation of community and local shops since the onset of Covid-19, with convenience (50 per cent), queues for bigger supermarkets (40 per cent) and limits on travel (31 per cent) the top three reasons for people rediscovering shops on their doorstep.
Just over three quarters of people (77 per cent) say they prefer to buy from someone they know and 72 per cent trust recommendations made by local shopkeepers.
Community values have also soared since lockdown, with 58 per cent more likely to say hello to their neighbours than they were one year ago. One in five (19 per cent) have a spare key for their next-door neighbour, 44 per cent say they take online deliveries for them and 18 per cent say they are in a neighbourhood WhatsApp group.
The research also revealed that local cafés, butchers, corner shops, bakeries and pubs are amongst the top staples of a modern community.
Top ten staples of a local community
1) School 2) Café 3) Bakery 4) Post office 5) Park 6) Corner shop 7) Pub 8) Church 9) Library 10) Butcher
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
