The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Opinium have compiled new data that indicates alarming predictions for January, when Helen Dickinson, the council’s chief executive, stated that merchants should anticipate a “spending squeeze.”
While the economy deteriorated to -27 for the month, down from -19 the previous month, personal financial situations stayed at -3 in December, the same as in November.
Along with overall personal expenditure, which was positive at +11 but decreased from the previous +17, personal spending on retail likewise dipped to -3 from +3 in November.
According to Dickinson, public confidence also took a “nosedive,” dropping eight points to -27, resulting in a “widening gap between expectations of the economy and of people’s own finances, which remained unchanged.”
However, this differed by age, with those between the ages of 18 and 35 continuing to be “much more optimistic than older generations.”
