Consumer expenditure expectations down 10.6% for Chistmas
Indeed less than three in five (57 per cent) Irish consumers consider their jobs to be secure in 2011. The survey finds that budgeted expenditure for Christmas is down here this year by 10.6 per cent while 67 per cent intend to spend less this year on entertainment and leisure.
According to Deloitte, “It comes as no surprise that extreme budget reduction forecasts were noted in Greece (21 per cent) and Ireland (10.6 per cent) given the severe economic crisis in these countries and the drastic budget rebalancing measures which are having an immediate impact on consumers’ buying-power”.
Younger people intend to spend more on socialising this Christmas than older people. The survey indicates that those in the 18 to 24 age bracket are likely to be the most prominent out and about at 28 per cent followed by those in the 25 to 34 age bracket at 19 per cent.
In contrast, those in the 45 to 54 age bracket are least likely to spend on socialising at just six per cent. Some 46 per cent intend to spend less on out-of-home leisure than they did last year.
And the Deloitte report has this to say about the emerging consumer trends for the coming year: “Our 2009 report referred to the hope expressed by European consumers that they would benefit from a positive economic recovery in 2010. This hope has generally been eroded in many of the countries surveyed. In Ireland and Greece, consumers’ views reflect their concerns about both the current period and the future. All the signs are negative: economic recession, lack of job security, deteriorating prospects as regards consumers’ future financial position and decreasing spending power. In other countries such as France, consumers feel that their countries are still in recession and that this will continue into 2011. The other strong trend is a growing feeling of job insecurity. This pessimism is also fuelled by consumers’ perception that their spending power is being eroded. They anticipate that their financial position will deteriorate over the next few months”.
Of Ireland, it concludes, “Budgeted spending on food will be maintained at the expense of gifts and out-of-home entertainment, which will bear the brunt of spending cuts”.
