Superdigital‘s most recent “Class C and D Consumer Habits Survey” showed that Brazilians in classes C and D spent 28% less in February compared to what they spent in January. “Class C and D” refers to the economic class according to the monthly family income; class C includes families with a monthly income of 4 to 10 minimum wages and class D includes families with a monthly income of 2 to 4 minimum wages; in other words, it is the equivalent of low-income families.

The data by region indicates that the biggest drop in consumption happened in the Southeast region, with a reduction of 31%; then comes the Northeast and Midwest, where consumption decreased by 25%.

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Looking at what items the Brazilian spent in February, it appears that the categories with the greatest reduction in consumption were Service Providers (-50%), Services (-45%) and Commerce in general (-33%). Spending on supermarket items, a basic expense, decreased 18%.

The only expense that increased was on fuel, an increase of 7%, largely due to the increase in prices.

The worsening of the pandemic and the end of emergency aid will lead to a drop in consumption

For Luciana Godoy, CEO of Superdigital in Brazil, the significant drop in consumption of lower-income classes is mainly due to the cancellation of Carnival parties due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to the isolation measures, which reduced informal activities and consequently the income of millions of families.

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“Also, in January some people were still able to count on a surplus in the budget for the payment of the second installment of the 13th salary, in addition to the emergency aid, which was paid until December,” she adds.

Superdigital’s survey is monthly and is based on transactions made by customers.