Sydney, Australia – 30 October 2013 – Confidence among Australians remains steady in the latest Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index, however fears over job prospects are on the rise. While confidence lingers at 96 points for Q3 2013, comparable to levels displayed in the same quarters of 2011 and 2012, this is significantly lower than the extremely high confidence displayed by Australians just three years ago when the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index hit 115.
“We are still well short of the soaring confidence seen in the market just three years ago,” said Chris Percy, Managing Director of Nielsen Pacific. “However consumer confidence has steadied in recent months and intentions to buy goods is slowly on the increase, which is cause for optimism among the retail sector in the lead-up to Christmas.
“The potential inhibitor for some areas and regions will be job prospects. Levels of concern around employment remain significantly higher than three years ago, despite Australia’s relatively modest unemployment levels.”
Correspondingly, 25% of Australians said their job prospects are currently causing them concern – an increase on three years ago when just one in eight (13%) respondents said future employment was a major worry.
“There is an obvious and stubborn divide among consumers’ perceptions for the next 12 months, separating those who are optimistic from those who aren’t. For every four Australians that are positive about their job prospects, there are five who are not. Likewise, for every 11 people who are hopeful about their personal finances in the year ahead, there are eight who are not.
“These divergent trends are exactly those that challenge marketers. We have an environment that craves value and a market that really wants to trade up. Our work with leading retailers and manufacturers now focuses around decoding these trends to allow businesses to attract both sectors of the divide. And in a market that has had to plough through trade pressures, currency fluctuations and a robust political year, this focus on consumer outlook has never been more important,” added Percy.
About the Nielsen Global Survey
The Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions was conducted between August 14 and September 6, 2013, and polled more than 30,000 online consumers in 60 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and North America. The sample has quotas based on age and sex for each country based on their Internet users, is weighted to be representative of Internet consumers, and has a maximum margin of error of ±0.6%. This Nielsen survey is based on the behaviour of respondents with online access only. Internet penetration rates vary by country. Nielsen uses a minimum reporting standard of 60-percent Internet penetration or 10M online population for survey inclusion. The China Consumer Confidence Index is compiled from a separate mixed methodology survey among 3,500 respondents in China. The Nielsen Global Survey, which includes the Global Consumer Confidence Index, was established in 2005.
About Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television, and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows, and related properties. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA, and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.
