Coronavirus: consumer confidence reaches record low

Consumer confidence plummeted to a record low by the end of the first quarter as the impact of Covid-19 unfolded, according to the latest Deloitte Consumer Tracker.

The tracker has seen the lowest level of consumer confidence since it began in 2011. Picture: John Devlin

The study – based on responses of more than 3,000 UK consumers between 20 and 24 March, as the UK’s lockdown measures came into force – measures quarterly changes in confidence across the likes of job security, household disposable income, debt, education and welfare, and general health and wellbeing.

Deloitte said the latest tracker saw the lowest level of consumer confidence since it began in Q3 2011, falling by nine percentage points to -18 per cent. It registered a similar drop in Scotland, dropping by 7 percentage points to -17 per cent.

Additionally, UK consumer sentiment on the state of the economy fell 43 percentage points quarter on quarter to -71, with consumers signposting a further three percentage point fall over the next three months.

Consumer sentiment dropped across every measure of the survey, with general health and levels of disposable income most negative, at -28 and -27 respectively.

Of all the categories measured, confidence in job security saw the biggest quarterly decline. In Scotland, this fell by 14 percentage points to -25.Scottish consumers were found to be more positive than the UK as a whole regarding household disposable income and general health and wellbeing.

Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte, flagged recent job losses “on a greater scale than in the financial crisis”.

He added that while there has been great government support for jobs, incomes and businesses, “worries about job security and the state of the economy have generated a sharp downturn in consumer confidence… consumers enter the second quarter of the year expecting things to get worse before they get better”.