Consumer Confidence May Be Growing But What Are Parents Saying?

B&A have just released their Consumer Confidence Tracker for October 2021, based on a large survey they carried out with adults aged 16 and over. It seems to indicate that consumer attitudes towards personal finances, spending and saving have improved. But what are parents telling ParentsandBrands?

Would you like tailored insights for your brand? Use our trusted panels of engaged parents and our dedicated private platform to gather critical insights to help your decision making and activate customers. Contact us now to find how we can help

Consumer Confidence Report from B&A

The Behaviour & Attitudes Consumer Confidence report is based on an online quantitative survey of 1,007 adults.

The main findings of the Tracker are that:

• Consumers’ attitudes towards spending resembles pre Covid levels at the beginning of October.
• Attitudes towards the value of personal assets improved during the first week of October
• Consumers have become more positive towards the value of their personal finances during October.
• Intention to save has moved into positive territory.

What are Parents Telling Us

We run regular surveys, insights panels and email requests for feedback from parents in our community, and we’ve been talking to them about their views and opinions on a wide variety of family life topics. Here’s what they have been telling us recently about spending and saving:

Grocery Bills

A recent report from Kantar found that prices shot up when the pandemic hit and have remained high. We wanted to find out if parents agree. There is a perception amongst many parents that grocery costs have gone up since the onset of the pandemic. In tandem with this, parents feel that the variety of products has decreased. 60% of parents said yes, the cost of their grocery shop had gone up and stayed up since lockdown.

“Costs have definitely increased over last few months along with petrol/diesel costs.”

“I do my main shop in Tesco. Everything has gone up in price and I may look at changing to a discount supermarket such as Lidl or Aldi.”

Energy Cost Rises

We were interested in finding out if parents are planning to make any changes following the recent announcement that energy prices are set to rise next year. It turns out parents are proactively looking at ways to reduce their energy use/bills. “Wear more jumpers” came out top of the list of actions they plan to take! Joking aside, many parents are concerned and stressed, like this parent:

“Honestly don’t know how I will keep the kids warm this winter. I’m getting very stressed about it. Even filling hot water bottles for them is now more expensive.”

Find out more insights from parents in our [INSIGHTS REPORT] Great Customer Service is a Key to Parents when Choosing a Home Energy Supplier.

Christmas Spending Plans

We asked our Insights panel of parents to tell us how they’re planning to spend during the 2021 Christmas season. 26% of parent said they plan to spend less, while 10% said spending time rather than on things was where they were at. 42% said they plan to spend as much but with a more low key approach altogether.

What they plan to spend on has shifted towards buying more Irish as well as things that encourage family time together (which was something that came out of our post-COVID Family Life insights), while entertaining with family and friends is definitely top of the list after last year.

“Definitely won’t be buying as many things this year. Just feel family time together is the thing to focus on not stuff.”

“Will definitely be trying to buy more sustainable and local though.”

Find out more insights from parents in our [INSIGHTS REPORT] Big Toy Brands Still Top Choice but Parents Receptive to Eco and Irish Brands.

Savings

It turns out that the cost of living rises are inhibiting saving habits amongst parents. Our recent feedback shows parents are dropping the saving habits formed during COVID (if they managed to save last year) as household costs rise.

“Not able to save with the cost of gas, electricity and groceries constantly rising. I have had to cut down on grocery shopping in order to afford to pay my bills, so I cannot afford to save.”

“I was able to save more during the big lockdown when we had 5k limit and everything was closed but back to normal a good while now.”

Find out more insights from parents in our [INSIGHTS REPORT] Setting a Good Financial Example for Kids is a Top Concern for Parents.

Would you like business-transforming insights from parents for your business? Use our tailored panels of engaged parents and our dedicated private platform to gather critical insights to help influence consumers to deliver long term profitability. Contact us now to find how we can help.