January blues hits consumer sentiment - BRC
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Thursday 23 Jan 2025
(Sharecast News) - Consumer sentiment has weakened to fresh lows, a closely-watched survey suggested on Thursday, as the new year got off to a sluggish start.
According to the latest consumer sentiment monitor from the British Retail Consortium, expectations for the next three months have softened across a number of areas.
The personal finance situation dropped to -4 in January, down one point on December, while the state of the economy eased to -34 from -27.
Respondents also signalled they intended to spend less now the festive season was over. Personal spending on retail fell to -9 from -3, while spending overall declined to 4 from 11.
In contrast, expectations for personal saving in the current quarter increased to -3 from -5 a month earlier.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: "As the government warns of tough times ahead, it is little surprise that the public have caught the January blues.
"Concerns [are] most pronounced among older generations. Gen Z (18-to-27 year olds) remain the only group to expect the economy to improve, while two thirds of 60-to-78 year olds expect things to get worse.
"Expectations of retail spending and wider spending both fell significantly, though much of this is likely to be at the end of the Christmas period, as people tightened their belts for the new year."
The survey was carried out for the BRC by Opinium between 10 and 14 January 2025.
A sample of 2,000 UK adults were questioned, with their answers weighted and assigned a net score.
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