Recurring Stressors Create the "Resigned
Consumer"
- In the U.S., more
consumers are pessimistic (48%) than optimistic (29%) about the
country's political future
- U.S. Consumer Stress
Index up +2.3 percentage points from Q1 2024
- Even larger uptick
in France (+4.5
points)
- Globally, in 7 of 12
countries, more consumers are pessimistic than optimistic about
their country's political future
CHICAGO, July 24,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kearney Consumer Institute
(KCI), an internal think tank of global strategy and management
consultancy Kearney, today released the third quarterly edition of
its Consumer Stress Index. Based on a finely calibrated set of
macroeconomic data and consumer input, the Index provides a
multi-faceted view of consumer sentiment, beyond economics. The new
report, Kearney Consumer Stress Index Q2 2024, finds that 7
out of 12 countries, including the U.S., saw an increase in stress
from last quarter—a sharp contrast from last quarter's Index.
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"Consumers around the world can only be described as 'resigned,'
with political and economic insecurity manifesting stress
differently from country to country," noted KCI lead Katie Thomas, who heads up the ongoing research
series. "In the U.S. and some other Western countries, this has led
to a perceived loss of agency, with consumers feeling powerless in
the face of continued uncertainty. Amid this state of both
persisting challenges and politics changing by the day, people feel
they have less power over their lives and their future."
The Stress Index tracks multiple components: macroeconomic data,
which is updated annually, and consumer sentiment, which is
calculated using two elements: consumer flexibility,
consumer agency in terms of perceived optionality and ability to
impact conditions; and consumer sensitivity or
awareness—what issues are top of consumers' minds and how they are
feeling. Data for the Q2 2024 report was fielded in June.
"In looking at consumer behavior, it is critically important to
get as complete a picture as possible, as there can be lots of
anomalies at play," said Katie
Thomas. "For example, political stress feeds into financial
stress—the generalized stress of politics may lead to personalized
stress pegged to the economy, as can be seen with popular sentiment
that jobs and personal finance are at risk even as data on job
growth, inflation, and gross national product point to a robust
economic picture."
The Q2 report found that Geopolitics & Government is once
again the top stressor, as it has been since the initial index was
released in January 2024. In over
half of the countries surveyed, more consumers are pessimistic than
optimistic about their country's political future. Respondents
who were pessimistic about their country's political future had a
stress index more than 7 points higher than those who were
optimistic, showing how political stress bleeds into stress across
all macroeconomic factors.
"When consumers are stressed about their country, this often
translates into stress about their finances," Thomas observed. "Our
research found that two-thirds of Americans are living paycheck to
paycheck—amid this, they need a source of reliability and
consistency. Rather than contribute to uncertainty through
practices like shrinkflation, brands have the ability to lend a
sense of clarity and stability to our 'resigned' consumer."
KCI's advisory for consumer-facing businesses is to help provide
consistency and aim for clarity in their packaging, pricing, and
marketing. Softer, less direct messaging—avoiding messages that
exacerbate politics- or technology-related stress—is one key to
help alleviate generalized consumer stress.
Read the full report by clicking this link.
For more information, or to schedule an interview with
Katie Thomas or receive a copy of
the study, please contact:
MKPR/Meir Kahtan
+1 917-864-0800
mkahtan@rcn.com
Kearney Consumer Stress Index Methodology
The Kearney Consumer Stress Index was created to examine
consumer behavior globally by taking a broader view of consumer
sentiment. It combines proprietary research, surveys, and analytics
with publicly available data and reports, weighing and balancing
macroeconomic factors, consumer flexibility, and consumer
sensitivity.
Macroeconomic sources comprise 50 data points from leading
global sources such as Oxford Economics, which are then organized
into five pillars—consumer wallet and finances, health and
education, geopolitics and government, food and the environment,
and innovation and technology—across 15 sub-categories. This
provides a quantitative, factual baseline for the initial analysis
of consumers.
Both the consumer flexibility and consumer sensitivity sections
use proprietary consumer surveys as their primary input, with more
than 20,000 global consumers surveyed (2,000 respondents in each of
12 countries). Survey results are used to determine scores across
pillars and sub-categories. The consumer flexibility component
shows consumer optionality and ability to flex to, and/or impact or
influence, changing conditions. The remainder of the model—consumer
sensitivity—reflects consumer top-of-mindedness and feelings on
pillar sub-factors.
Combined, the three elements create the Index, the values of
which reflect relative changes within a country based on consumer
stress, leading to potential changes in behavior.
About the Kearney Consumer Institute
The Kearney Consumer Institute (KCI) evaluates today's
business challenges and opportunities through the eyes and
experiences of consumers, advocating a consumer-first perspective.
By leveraging consumer behavior data and insights, the KCI helps
generate conversation, and ultimately action, around how to address
consumer needs with meaningful benefits.
Using a consumer-first lens the KCI looks at today's consumer
revolution not by thinking about consumers, but by thinking like
consumers. Our consumer-centric approach includes simple, precise,
plain-language conversations on topics like trends, consumer
communities, convenience, loyalty, service, fair pricing, and
product development and technologies.
About Kearney
Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm. For nearly
100 years, we have been a trusted advisor to C-suites, government
bodies, and nonprofit organizations. Our people make us who we are.
Driven to be the difference between a big idea and making it
happen, we work alongside our clients to regenerate their
businesses to create a future that works for everyone.
www.kearney.com
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