Despite rising unemployment rates, customer confidence is on the rise, according to an executive briefing from Bigresearch. Nearly one in three (31.2%) consumers is confident/very confident in chances for a strong economy over the next six months, rising five points from April (26.0%), nearly 12 points from a year ago (19.5%) and the highest reading since January 2008 (33.5%).
While retail sales continued to fall in April, the months ahead might pique summer spending interests, as practicality has declined in May: 47.4% contend they’ve become more practical/realistic when spending, compared to 51.6% in April. Consumers are also easing back on prioritizing needs over wants. While the majority (56.9%) continues to maintain a needs-based bent when buying, this has declined 2+ points from April (59.5%).
Still, consumers remain more focused on the necessities compared to a year ago (50.7%), a sign that shoppers may only cautiously wade back into the spending pool.
-- Sarah
Rising buy slowly.
I did have my personal largest sale ever today.
$11,900 worth of fertilizer, grub killer and Bonide's wonderful Weed Beater Ultra
for a 30 acre estate in Millbrook, NY
Posted by: greg draiss | May 26, 2009 at 08:14 PM