ZAGREB, November 22, 2020 - The COVID-19 crisis is affecting consumers' incomes and habits of using financial services, it is responsible for lower incomes for 48% of respondents, and 41% of employees are afraid of being fired, Mastercard said this week after a survey conducted in Croatia.
The MasterIndex online survey was conducted by the Improve market research agency in September and October, covering 1,026 users of banking services aged 18-55.
Forty-eight percent of respondents said their monthly household income decreased during the COVID crisis, including 58% of respondents in the Dalmatia region, 52% in Istria and 40% in Slavonia.
Sixty-two percent said they refrained from major purchases during the crisis, including 74% of respondents in Dalmatia and 67% in the Lika region.
41% of workers fear being fired, 55% of business owners fear closure
Sixty-two percent of respondents said they worked for someone else and 10% were self-employed.
Of those in employment, 41% fear being laid off due to the economic consequences of the COVID crisis, mainly in Istria and Lika, while people in Zagreb and Slavonia are least afraid of getting fired.
Fifty-five percent of business owners said they might have to close because of the crisis, with the biggest fear expressed by those in Lika, Istria and Dalmatia, while those in Slavonia and Zagreb are somewhat less afraid.
Of the 29% of respondents who said they did not do a paying job during the crisis, 10% said they could not do their job because of COVID restrictions while 4% were fired.
Contactless payment increasingly in use
The survey shows that nearly all respondents are using smartphones and payment cards, and that they are increasingly in favour of contactless and mobile payment.
Twenty-six percent of respondents are worried about the possibility of getting infected while paying in cash, and 44% said that was the reason they paid by card more often.
Eighty-one percent said they preferred to pay by card, nine in ten have and use a contactless card, 31% do so everyday, and 18% said they were increasingly paying by mobile phone.
The survey also shows that 91% of respondents buy online and 45% do so at least once a month, mainly clothing, shoes, consumer electronics and household necessities, but also food.
The survey shows that 80% are satisfied with the level of digitalisation in Croatia, down six percentage points from the spring. A significant portion of respondents would like to see more innovation and digital services in healthcare, public administration, education and the judiciary.
