One third of customers have no spare cash

The confidence of Britain’s consumers rose last quarter but the increase may prove short lived with consumers’ intentions to spend stuck at an all-time low, according to the latest Consumer Confidence Survey released today (Thursday) by global information and measurement company Nielsen and the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Consumers’ biggest concerns for the next six months continue to be things that affect their personal finances and household budgets. ‘Increasing utility bills’ is the number one concern, followed closely by ‘the economy’, and ‘increasing fuel prices’. In response to rising costs, 71 per cent of people say they have changed their shopping habits to try to save on household expenses, with 65 per cent of those switching to cheaper grocery brands.

Britain’s second quarter (Q2) consumer confidence index went up five points from Q1 to 72 as more people felt a little better about their job prospects and personal finances, but it remains down on all of last year. Nineteen per cent of consumers are now optimistic about their job prospects for the coming year (up from 16 percent in Q1), but 73 per cent remain pessimistic. And, while 35 per cent of people are now optimistic about the state of their personal finances (up from 29 per cent in Q1), some 60 per cent of Brits remain gloomy about theirs.