At the invitation of Dr. Georg Wailand (Gewinn), Prof. Dr. Christoph Teller and Dr. Ernst Gittenberger presented current analyses of consumer behavior at this year's MMM symposium (pictured with cooperation partner Hannes Lindner from Standort+Markt, who gave an interesting presentation on space development in the Austrian retail sector).

Almost all of the key changes in recent years can be traced back to the two major crises. However, while the Covid-19 crisis led to an online boom and subsequently to a travel boom, the inflation crisis resulted in a reluctance to spend among consumers in the retail sector.

However, the online boom of the coronavirus years is already over in terms of spending. However, the travel boom continues unabated. The number of vacation trips in summer 2023 has already exceeded the pre-crisis level of 2019 by +32%. 67% of Austrians want to travel this summer, which is more than in the previous year (65%). This is also causing an increasing shift in importance and ultimately spending from shopping to travel.
Although price increases in many areas of life are slowing from month to month, Austria recorded the fourth-highest inflation in the EU in the first quarter of 2024 and this continues to have a negative impact on consumer sentiment. Consumers' reluctance to spend is slowly easing, but promotions and private labels continue to play a key role.

We would like to thank Dr. Weiland for the invitation to the MMM Conference 2024 and the other speakers (including Hannes Lindner/Standort+Markt, Peter Schaider/Auhof Center, Volker Hornsteiner/kikaLeiner, Johannes Endl/ÖRAG and Helmut Petschar/VÖM) for their interesting insights and outlooks.