Shopper confidence plummeted in January to the lowest levels recorded by the Shopper Confidence Index, with 89% of shoppers now expecting food prices to rise in the next year.
The index is from IGD ShopperVista, and reveals an average score for the month of -14, down from -9 in December. This is the lowest it has been at any point in IGD’s data.
Despite the lifting of COVID restrictions, confidence dropped in the first week of January to -11, and by the end of the month it had dropped to -17.
Head of shopper insight at IGD ShopperVista Rhian Thomas said: “The removal of COVID-19 restrictions this month did nothing to improve shopper confidence due to cost-of-living concerns, and there is still space for it to decline further given the full effect of rising prices is yet to be felt.
“We continue to believe that rising food and energy bills will hit the lowest affluence groups hardest, with ‘heating vs. eating’ becoming a genuine concern for the lowest earners.
“From our data we’re seeing shoppers indicate they’re spending more than they want to and buying less as a result. Going forward, businesses should prepare for shoppers being more planned in their shopping – eating more at home and looking to spend less day-to-day to save money and spend on what matters to them.”
Financial confidence also reached its lowest level since 2013, excluding the initial 2020 lockdown period, with 39% of respondents stating they expect to be worse off in January 2022 than 31% in December 2021.
No comments yet