Internet services market across Europe during crisis: A study focused on low-income groups

Abstract

The economical recession of the recent years has affected the economies of European countries and the welfare of their population and markets. In this paper, we focus on the northern and southern European population "at-risk-ofpoverty" and study the impact of economical instability of the 2008-2015 period on their behaviour as consumers towards the offered Internet services basket. Intrigued by the contrasting profile of economies of the northern and southern countries, we have selected three representatives of each party (Germany, the Netherlands and Finland for North Europe and Spain, Portugal and Greece for South Europe) to provide a comparison analysis of the Internet services market for the poor during the economical crisis years. In order to obtain further insights, we also proceed to a comparison with the average consumer behaviour of poor population in Europe. Our findings suggest that Internet services can be either a basic need or luxury and that their demand is on the rise despite possible income reduction during crisis.