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15 August 2006
Hong Kong
Less than half the world’s online consumers see now a good time to buy things they want. Consumers in India and Hong Kong gear up for a spending spree.
Consumers around the world seem to be struggling to remain optimistic about local job prospects and state of their personal finances in the next 12 months, and their overall consumer sentiment and readiness to spend are also slowing down, according to ACNielsen, the world’s leading market research and information company.
The findings on global consumer confidence and readiness to spend were reported from the latest 2006 ACNielsen Global Consumer Confidence and Opinion Survey conducted in late May/early June this year. The twice-yearly online survey polled 21,780 internet users in 40 markets in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America.
Consumers all over the world are more cautious today about the outlook for local job prospects than they were a year ago. In North America, despite a decline from 68 percent to 63 percent, it remains the most optimistic about job opportunities compare to Asia Pacific (53%) and Europe (45%).
In terms of financial outlook, Asia Pacific consumers (49%) are the least comfortable with their state of their personal finance over the next year. This represents a drop of about nine points and makes consumers in Asia Pacific the most cautious group globally. In Europe, 54 percent of consumers said they were confident about their personal finances and North America is the only region where consumers are more confident about the state of their personal finances (67%).
“Consumers outlook about local job prospects and their confidence in personal finances often go hand in hand,” said Mr Niles. “When job prospects look to be slowing down, people’s confidence in their personal finances seem to also decline – also impacting their desire to spend.”
Nevertheless, there are always some consumers who think more positively. The most optimistic and upbeat consumers in the world about job prospect and personal finances are found in Norway, India and Denmark, according to the survey where in particular a nine percentage increase in job market outlook was recorded in Norway and Denmark compared to six months ago.
“It’s worth mentioning that Asian markets of Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore are among the most optimistic consumers during this round of the survey. In these countries, consumer confidence in the local job market and personal finances increased between five to nine points versus last year,” observed Niles. Indeed Hong Kong and Singapore made it to the global ten ‘most optimistic’ list along with Malaysia for local job prospects, and Indonesians ranked fourth in the world for its optimism in the state of their personal finances.
Fewer world online consumers believe it is a good time to buy things they want over the next 12 months
More consumers this time round claimed they don’t have spare cash in this round of the survey compared to the previous survey and more than half of online consumers globally consider it not a good time to buy things that they want over the next 12 months.
Among those who think ‘now is a good time to buy thinks I want’ are North American (48%) despite rising national concern for personal debt and soaring fuel prices. More cautious are consumers in Europe and Asia Pacific where only 40 percent and 34 percent respectively believe that “now” is a good time to spend.
“Consumers who are most likely to go on a spending spree in the next twelve months hail from Denmark (74%), Norway (65%) and India (61%). “In Asia Pacific, over half of consumers in Hong Kong (54%), Australia and New Zealand (52% each) think it is a good time to indulge themselves in some retail buying therapy.”
Asia Pacific has the most savers in the world
Continuing the trend from previous surveys, the world’s top savers are still to be found in Asia Pacific. 54 percent of Asia Pacific consumers will put their spare cash into savings, compared to 37 percent of North Americans and 29 percent of Europeans. “Asian nations occupy every position in the “Top Ten Global Savers” list with Thailand (70%) topping the global ranking with highest percentage of savers and a significant 15 percentage points increase compared to six months ago,” Niles added. Six in 10 consumers in Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan also opt to save with their spare cash.
“Economic and cultural factors influence Asians penchant to save for a rainy day with levels higher than other part of the world. With more than a third of consumers in Asia Pacific concerned about job security, putting spare cash into saving is certainly the safest financial option for consumers who are insecure about their jobs,” said Niles.
When consumers are asked how they spend the money left after covering essential living expenses, Holidays/Vacations topped the spending list with 34 percent of global online consumers choosing it, followed by a third for Out of Home Entertainment, Paying off debts/credit card bills/loans and New Clothes respectively. A quarter would also choose to spend on Home improvements/decorating and New Technology and increasingly, 16 percent would invest in the stock/mutual funds. Spending habits and priorities varied by global regions with holidays topping the list for European and Asia Pacific consumers - while paying off debts/credit cards/ loans coming in first for North Americans (42%).
In Asia Pacific, while going for Holidays/Vacations (37%) has consistently been the first way consumers would choose to indulge themselves, priorities for other spending options have changed over time where consumers are now spending more on Out of Home Entertainment (30%) and New Clothes (28%) than New Technology (24%) gadgets.
Thai consumers (58%) top the Asia Pacific region and rank second on the global list following Norwegians (59%) in opting to spend their spare cash on Holidays/Vacations. Singaporeans, Vietnamese and Japanese are the other passionate travelers on the global list.
Out of home entertainment is most sought-after by over half of Russians and Vietnamese. Fashion conscious Russians (71%) are equally interested in buying new clothes with any spare cash along with people in Greece (50%).
It’s worth noting that Vietnamese consumers, newcomers to the ACNielsen global online survey, show great enthusiasm in spending on almost everything! According to the survey, while only a third claimed it is a good time to buy things that they want in the next 12 months, Vietnamese consumers were the only ones ever who deny not having any spare cash at all. “Vietnam has one of the world’s youngest and most literate populations and its people are clearly enjoying the fruits of a booming domestic economy. The irrepressible consumer boom in Vietnam presents great potential for global brands and players in all sectors including retail, technology, entertainment, travel & tourism, fashion apparels and home improvement/decorations,” commented Niles.
Globally, consumers in Asia Pacific also seem to be more interested in playing the financial markets than any other region with one in four consumers choosing to invest in stocks/mutual funds. This trend is led by Taiwan (42%), Hong Kong and India (each 40%). Seven out of the top ten countries that invest in the financial markets are all hailing from Asia Pacific.
The ACNielsen Online Consumer Confidence and Opinion Survey is the largest half-yearly survey of its kind aiming at gauging current confidence levels, spending habits/intentions and current major concerns of consumers across the globe. Markets covered: Australia (Aus), Austria (AT), Belgium (Bel), Canada (Can), Denmark (Den), Finland (Fin), France (Fra), Germany (Ger), Greece (Gre), Hong Kong (HK), India (Ind), Indonesia (Indo), Ireland (Ire), Italy (Ita), Japan (Jap), Korea (Kor), Malaysia (Mal), Netherlands (NL), New Zealand (NZ), Norway (Nor), Philippines (PH), Poland (Pol), Portugal (Por), Russia (Rus), Singapore (SG), South Africa (SA), Spain (Spa), Sweden (Swe), Switzerland (Swi), Taiwan (TW), Thailand (TH), Turkey (TR), United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Czechoslovakia (Cze), Hungary (Hun), Vietnam (Vnm) and the Baltics (Bal).
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