Consumer Confidence is Rocky – What it Means for Retailers

This is still well below the weekly average of 110.3, but it’s 13.2 points higher than the same week last year. Consumer confidence sits at a somewhat bump position of 104.2 for the month of July, driven by ongoing lockdown measures and uncertainty surrounding vaccination rates.

This increase comes as Victoria and Adelaide emerge from lockdown measures, and vaccination targets are put in place to prevent further lockdowns.

State by state, Sydney’s consumer confidence plunged seven percent as its experiences a four-week extension of its lockdown. Meanwhile, in Adelaide, confidence levels increased by 2.9 percent, and Melbourne also saw a lift of two percent, evening out the overall national average.

“Consumer confidence rose by 1.1 percent last week as restrictions were lifted from Victoria and South Australia. Confidence in their capital cities improved by 2.0 percent and 2.9percent respectively,” explained David Plank, the ANZ Head of Australian Economics. “Sentiment in Brisbane was also up by 2.7 percent, but the majority of the survey was completed before the three-day lockdown in South East Queensland was announced. Sentiment in Sydney was down a sharp 7.0 percent as the lockdown in the city was extended by a month.”

For Australian consumers, 36 percent believe that now is a good time to buy a major household product, up two points from the previous survey. In contrast, 32 percent say that now is a bad time to buy a major household item, which has dropped three points.

“While below the long-run average, overall consumer confidence is well above the levels seen during Melbourne’s long second lockdown. This is consistent with the evidence provided by ANZ Job Ads that the economic impact of the current lockdowns is likely to be considerably less than in 2020,” Plank said.

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