AdNews
22 Feb 2012, By Erin Smith
Australia leads in consumer confidence
Australians have the highest consumer confidence of all developed nations, but the year ahead will continue to post challenges for the retail sector, according to Nielsen.
Australian retailers can gain hope from the latest consumer confidence findings from a Nielsen global survey. It shows that, despite regular reports of global economic doom and gloom, the confidence of Australian consumers increased in the last quarter for the first time since July 2010. Consumer confidence fell in 60% of the 56 markets surveyed globally.
Nielsen Pacific managing director Chris Percy said: “While Australians still seem to be cautious, we have seen an uplift in consumer confidence in the last quarter. Reports of low retail spending are still concerning, but we hope, or the retailers will hope, that this increased consumer sentiment will begin to translate into better results for retailers as 2012 progresses, although we still predict a challenging year ahead for the retail sector.
“The Reserve Bank of Australia's surprise decision to keep rates on hold may weigh on future consumer sentiment, particularly with all of the major banks raising their mortgage rates independently of the RBA’s judgement, in a bid to protect profits.”
In a positive sign for the retail sector, almost one-quarter of Australians will be putting money towards home improvements, decorating or new technology, which is an increase on the previous quarter.
When it comes to job prospects in 2012, 53% of Australians believed employment opportunities are either good or excellent, compared to only 42 percent of global respondents. Additionally, 59% of Australians think their personal finances will improve over the next 12 months, compared to 52% of global respondents.
However, Australians are still putting money away with 44% signalling they will be putting discretionary money into savings. These figures are relatively stagnant when compared with previous quarters. The money people are looking to spend on new clothes remains stagnant at 23%, and 12% of respondents indicated they have no spare cash.
Percy said: “When it comes to people’s two major concerns, these remain the same around utility bills and the economy. Interestingly, concerns around food and fuel prices dropped when compared to the previous quarter, which could partly be due to pricing activity from the major retailers.”
Joining Australia as the most positive countries are Norway and Canada. Europe accounts for eight of the ten most depressed markets including Greece, Italy, Portugal, France and Spain. These results are linked to the Eurozone debt crisis.
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