Consumer Confidence Worldwide

Consumers in Asia Pacific are confident about their economic outlook - more so than their counterparts in the US and Europe - but have yet to forget completely the spectre of Asia's recent economic downturn, according to ACNielsen. They are also the most likely to save spare cash, while Americans and Europeans spend theirs.

The Asia Pacific region includes nine of the ten most positive markets in terms of reviewing the last 6 months, and eight of the top ten (no.s 1 to 8, in fact) in terms of optimism for the next 12 months. However, the region's level of economic confidence was somewhat lower than in May, the last time the study was conducted.

40% of consumers in Asia Pacific think their economies improved over the last six months, and 53% expect them to improve further over the next year. Conversely, when asked the same question in the US and Europe, a sizeable 48% of Americans and 40% of Europeans thought their economies had deteriorated over the past six months. However, 43% of Americans remained positive about the year ahead, and optimistic their economy would improve, and while 31% of Europeans were of a like mind, a further 35% expected the situation to deteriorate further over the coming year.

'This will be music to the ears of investors who may have been hesitant in investing in Asia, as they wait for signs that Asia has emerged from its economic doldrums' according to Mr Bienvenido Niles Jnr, President, ACNielsen Asia Pacific.

The top three markets worldwide, in terms of %s believing their economy had improved in the last few months, were Singapore (66%), China (65%) and Hong Kong (64%). In terms of optimism for the next 12 months, China is first with 78%, followed by India (77%) and Indonesia (76%). The US ranked 9th with 43%, followed by Norway with 42%.

There are some pockets of pessimism in Asia - in Korea, Japan and the Philippines only 22%, 28% and 32% respectively felt that their economies would improve over the next year.

The survey also looked at how consumers use their spare cash once they have covered their living expenses. In Asia Pacific, nearly half said they put it in savings or deposit accounts; the second most mentioned was out of home entertainment (32%) followed by paying off credit cards debts or loans (29%). In the US the top three priorities were reversed, with 33% claiming they were paying off credit cards debts or loans, followed by out of home entertainment (29%), and savings and deposits (23%).

This compared to 37% of Europeans spending on out of home entertainment, followed by savings or deposits (34%) and new clothes and home improvements each (33%): 'In Europe, irrespective of the economic situation, the priority appears to be on the finer things in life' says Niles '- entertaining out of home, and in true European style, being well-dressed.
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Niles says the hard lesson from Asia's last economic crisis has been learnt: 'While Asia Pacific consumers are the most confident globally, they aren't ready just yet to loosen fully their purse-strings.. Asian consumers know from experience that what's here today, could be gone tomorrow, and you can never be too prepared, nor have too much cash put aside for a rainy day'.

The nine countries with the highest propensity to save are all in Asia Pacific - led by Indonesia (59%), Malaysia (58%) and Thailand (57%), with the Netherlands sneaking in at no.10.

ACNielsen's Asia Pacific Consumer Confidence Study was conducted over the Internet in October and was expanded to cover 28 markets across Asia Pacific, Europe and the US. 14,134 consumers were surveyed. The company is online at www.acnielsen.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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