Consumers globally worried over climate change, living cost: EY survey

Seventy-one per cent of consumers are planning to delay purchases until festive sales events and 46 per cent of consumers are extremely concerned about climate change.

Fashion accessories topped the list of product categories consumers plan to spend less on (cited by 61 per cent of respondents), followed by toys and gadgets (51 per cent) and clothing and footwear (44 per cent).

Fifty-four per cent of consumers are responding to their concerns by planning to buy less in the future, in an effort to save money (according to 73 per cent of respondents) and because they feel they don’t need new items (49 per cent). However, 39 per cent of respondents from across the globe attributed spending less to helping the environment.

Thirty-five per cent of consumers are increasingly willing to pay extra for brands they trust—up 10 per cent from February 2022.

This festive season, large sales events will continue to attract consumers in China, the United States and Europe.

Seventy-one per cent stated that they plan to hold off on making some purchases until these event days, compared with just 48 per cent in November 2021.

The survey revealed a 16 percentage point increase in consumers shopping, mostly or only online this festive season, with a 14 percentage point decline in shoppers purchasing items ‘mostly or only in-store’ when compared with last year.

However, with little changes to overall planned spending this season, respondents remain highly conscious of their available budgets.

US and European consumers are planning to spend less this festive season compared with Chinese consumers, many of whom plan to spend more.

The survey covered over 22,000 consumers across 28 countries.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)