BRC reports rise in consumer confidence
The latest Consumer Confidence Index, released by market research company Nielsen and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), has revealed a rise in consumer confidence.
The index shows an increase to 75, which is 10 points higher than the all-time-low reported in April this year.
However, the BRC cautioned that despite the bounce in confidence, consumers are still concerned over unemployment and future job security.
A quarter people believe job prospects will be ‘bad’ over the next year, compared with 20% who think they will be “good” or “excellent”.
According to Stephen Robertson of the BRC: “the general mood” was better than a year ago, but “improvement has been slow”.
Mr Robertson adds: “Half of consumers believe we’ll still be in recession in a year’s time. More than half are worried about jobs and their own finances and that will hold back full scale retail recovery well into next year.”
The survey also found that almost three-quarters of households are spending less on gas and electricity and even when the economy emerges from recession, over half of consumers say they will still aim to save on utility bills.
Last month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the UK economy shrank by 0.4% in the July to September period, meaning the country is still in recession.
The fall in GDP means it is the first time the UK has endured six consecutive quarters without growth – the first time since the ONS began gathering the data in 1955.
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