10 December 2024, 00:06
By Furniture News Jun 28, 2019

UK consumer confidence slips further in June 

GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index decreased to –13 in June, with all five measures used to determine people's willingness to spend and save decreasing.

The Major Purchase Index, the indicator used to reflect consumers' willingness to buy big-ticket items such as furniture, decreased three point to -2, leaving it two points lower YoY.

Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, says: “With all measures falling across the board this month, we revert to the Overall Index Score of -13 that we saw four times already this year. Perhaps scores clustered around -13 are to be the ‘new normal’ for consumer confidence?

"While UK consumers continue to remain concerned about the wider economy, over which the woman or man in the street has no control, of greater worry are the falls in the measures for personal finance. These better reflect our hopes and fears for our everyday financial futures and this, coupled with a decline in the Major Purchase Index, could point to a turbulent time for the economy over the summer months.

"Another trend to watch, even though it’s not included in the Overall Index Score, is the Savings Index – up for the third month in a row at +19. Despite more of us agreeing that “now is a good time to save”, the official savings ratio (the percentage of disposable income being saved) stands at near historic lows as households must either dip into their savings or go into debt to fund the cost of day-to-day living. This is important because, without the security of a savings buffer, consumers may well be unable to absorb the impact of any downturn a no-deal Brexit might deliver.”

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