BRC: Consumers feeling the January blues

Fieldwork conducted on 10 – 14 January 2025

According to BRC-Opinium data, consumer expectations over the next three months of their:

• Personal financial situation dropped to -4 in January, down from -3 in December.

• State of the economy worsened to -34 in January, down from -27 in December.

• Personal spending on retail fell to -9 in January, down from -3 in December.

• Personal spending overall dropped to +4 in January, down from +11 in December.

• Personal saving increased to -3 in January, up from -5 in December.

Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, said:
“As the government warns of tough times ahead, it is little surprise that the public have caught the January blues. Consumer confidence in the economy fell to a new low, with concerns most pronounced among older generations. Gen Z (18-27) remain the only group to expect the economy to improve, while two-thirds of Boomers (60-78) expect things to get worse. Feelings around people's own finances fell slightly, with older generations remaining the most pessimistic. Expectations of retail spending and wider spending both fell significantly, though much of this is likely to be the end of the Christmas period, as people tightened their belts for the new year ahead.”

“On top of this challenging market backdrop, retailers are facing £7bn in additional costs from the Budget and new packaging levy. With retailers' tight margins leaving little scope to absorb more costs, many are warning of price rises and job cuts in the coming months. To mitigate this, and shore up investment in shops and entry level jobs, the Government must ensure that no shop ends up paying a higher business rates bill because of its proposed reforms.”

Consumer expectations for the state of the economy over the next three months:

Consumer expectations for their personal financial situation over the next three months:

Consumer expectations of spending over the next three months by category:

Consumer NET expectations of spending over the next three months by category:

-ENDS-

The BRC sent this release to our "Monitors" and "General Retail" media list. To check/update what media lists you are on, please contact us below.

All monitor dates for next year can be found here

Methodology:

Fieldwork conducted by Opinium for the BRC. Sample included 2,000 UK adults and results have been weighted and assigned a net score. Questions were:

• Over the next 3 months, do you expect your personal finances to get better or worse?
• Over the next 3 months, do you expect the state of the UK economy to get better or worse?
• What do you plan to do in relation to your spending over the next 3 months?
• Reflecting on your retail spend across different categories, overall do you expect to spend more or less on retail items over the next 3 months?
• What are your expectations for saving over the next 3 months?
• What are your expectations for spending on the following retail categories over the next three months compared to the previous 3 months?