Survey Reveals UK Consumer Confidence Faltering in Run up to Black Friday and Christmas

News provided by

CONTEXT

22 Nov, 2016, 07:00 GMT

LONDON, November 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

UK consumers' confidence in their ability to weather the uncertainty around Brexit continues to slide as the most crucial shopping periods of the year approach, according to the latest Retail Pulse Survey from CONTEXT, the IT market research company. The Survey reveals that half of those questioned expect the UK economy to weaken over the next three months, thus dampening spending plans.

Carried out in the middle of October this year across a representative sample of 1,000 consumers in the UK, other main points emerging included:

  • There has been a marked deterioration in confidence over the last quarter among older consumers
  • Over a third of consumers expect their personal finances to weaken in the next three months
  • 35% of consumers expected that they would be able to put less into savings in the next three months
  • 37% of consumers thought that now was a bad time to make big-ticket electrical purchases

Amongst older consumers, sentiment has changed significantly since the last survey three months ago. In July 2016, 42 per cent of people 65 and over expected positive UK economic performance. Feelings have now swung massively in the opposite direction with 44 per cent believing the country's economy will get worse.

"Anxiety about the economy is creeping into everyday purchasing decisions by all age groups," commented Adam Simon, CONTEXT's Global Retail Business Managing Director. "Consumers in the UK are now two times less likely to invest in electrical products-including smartphones, TVs, and notebooks- than they were in July. This is due to increased worries about the state of personal finances, with one third of all those questioned agreeing they will cut back on electrical purchases due to just this one factor alone."

"Against a background of UK household saving now standing at 5.1 per cent - a return to the low levels last seen before the global financial crisis - and unsecured borrowing in July 2016 growing at 10.3% year on year, the Survey suggests a potential negative impact on the UK's retailers this holiday season, with Black Friday almost upon them," said Adam.

Notes to Editors 

About CONTEXT  

CONTEXT specialises in tracking technology markets globally. Supported by the largest Channel Database in the world, regular channel and consumer surveys, our experience in managing and reporting on large data sets provides the information that has been helping our clients make business-critical decisions for over 30 years.

About the Survey
The CONTEXT Retail Pulse Survey is carried out exclusively for CONTEXT quarterly by Retail Economics, an independent economics research consultancy focusing on the UK retail and consumer industry. It covers 1,000 consumers aged 18-65+. This quarter's survey was carried out by telephone on October 19th, 2016.

http://www.contextworld.com