Just in time for the Christmas season, consumer sentiment in Germany has improved and stopped the downward trend of the past few months.
This emerges from the latest consumption study by the Nuremberg consumer research company GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM), which was published today. “After three declines in a row, the consumer climate is stabilizing at the end of the year,” said NIM consumer expert Rolf Bürkl.
However, the level remains very low in long-term comparison and there are no signs of a sustainable recovery in the coming months. “The mood is still characterized by uncertainty and worries,” said Bürkl. In addition to inflation, consumers cited international crises as the reason for the uncertainty in a more in-depth investigation.
Uncertainty among consumers
“This confirms empirically that the propensity to save serves less as an indicator of conscious investment, but can be interpreted primarily as an indication of the extent of consumer uncertainty,” said Bürkl. “Conversely, this also means that for a sustainable recovery in the consumer climate it is necessary, on the one hand, that inflation is brought back to a reasonable level and that solutions must also be found in the international trouble spots.”
The forecast for the consumer climate for December is minus 27.8 points, an increase of 0.5 points compared to the previous month. Before the corona pandemic, the GfK consumer climate was comparatively stable at a value of plus 10 points.
For the study, around 2,000 people were surveyed on behalf of the EU Commission between November 2nd and 13th. The Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions, formerly the GfK Association, is the founder and co-owner of GfK, which is about to merge with the British-American competitor NielsenIQ.
