Rise in consumer confidence sparks rise in retailer optimism

摘要

Retailers should be starting this year with a more optimistic outlook than last year following a sharp year-on-year rise in consumer confidence, suggests CACI's latest Shopper Confidence report. The report showed consumer confidence rose one percentage point to 8.7% in December and was up five points on December 2013. The rise was driven by a three-point increase among middle-income shoppers - the largest consumer category, which CACI describes as "comfortable communities". The rise in December followed four months of falling confidence, which CACI said was due to consumers getting nervous about their Christmas spending commitments and leaving behind more relaxed summer spending habits.