Consumer confidence edging up again
April 26, 2024
Retail analysts say confidence among consumers for major purchases like furniture and flooring is "heading in the right direction" and is up three points over this time last year.
The GfK Major Purchase Index, which covers consumer appetitite for buying big ticket items like furnishings and appliances, edged up 2 points in April over the previous month to minus 25, 3 points higher than April 2023.
Another GfK index measuring changes in positivity about consumers' personal finances during the last year is up two points at -11; this is 10 points better than April 2023.
“While the Overall Index Score remains negative, all of the underlying five measures this April are significantly better than they were last April,"
says Joe Staton, Client Strategy Director, GfK. "These improvements reflect the impact on household budgets of lower inflation and the anticipation of further tax cuts.
“However, we are a long way from the much firmer sentiment last seen in the period before Brexit, Covid and the conflict in Ukraine. There is a lot of ground to make up, and caution is needed in the face of continuing economic and fiscal challenges, and revised views on when the Bank of England might cut borrowing costs," he said.
“But Spring has arrived and maybe consumer confidence is, at last, slowly becoming brighter and heading in the right direction.”
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