Quantifying the connection between personal finances and purchase decisions
Financial constraints and other forces are driving people to deliberate more deeply on what they buy. This is especially true in consumer technology and entertainment.
In today's volatile and uncertain environment, consumer behaviour can shift rapidly, presenting a significant challenge for businesses. With the ongoing economic crisis, people worldwide are experiencing financial pressures that are influencing their purchasing decisions.
Inflation is a growing concern globally, prompting consumers to be more budget conscious and strategic in the decisions they make. This trend is particularly evident in the consumer technology and entertainment industries, where economic uncertainty is driving changes in buying behaviours for products like smartphones, TVs, and streaming services.
While economic factors are undoubtedly influential, consumer actions are also shaped by a variety of other factors. By understanding these influences, businesses can develop more effective strategies to attract and retain customers in the face of economic instability. With careful planning and a focus on customer needs, they can navigate the challenges of inflation and continue to thrive in a rapidly changing marketplace.
To stay competitive, businesses must proactively track and adapt to these changing patterns of consumer behaviour. This requires a deep understanding of customer attitudes, preferences, and buying habits, as well as an ability to anticipate shifts in these behaviours and respond accordingly.
To help brands navigate this complexity, Kantar’s Worldpanel has launched its Global Consumer Confidence Tracker, which continuously surveys 540,000 consumers every year in 19 markets to monitor the impact that increased inflation is set to have on personal finances. The continuous insights from this tracker will enable businesses to gain a competitive advantage by identifying emerging trends and adapting their strategies in real-time. By staying ahead of the curve, they can improve customer loyalty, increase sales, and ultimately drive growth and profitability.
In this paper we share the initial learnings from the first two waves of the survey, fielded in October 2022 and January 2023.
How confident do consumers currently feel about their financial situation? How has this changed over the three months between waves? What impact have their feelings had on their intentions to buy/spend on consumer technology and streaming services? Have they stuck to their plans? If not, what were the reasons?
Worldpanel's Global Consumer Confidence Tracker continuously surveys 540,000 consumers every year in 19 markets
