GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index has show that levels have fallen by one point to -41 in June, setting a new record low for the second month running.
Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, commented: “The consumer mood is currently darker than in the early stages of the Covid pandemic, the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum, and even the shock of the 2008 global financial crisis.
“One thing is for sure, Britain faces a stark new economic reality and history shows that consumers will not hesitate to retrench and tighten their purse strings when the going gets tough.”
May also saw sales volumes drop by 0.5% amid rising costs, according to the Office for National Statistics. In the three months to May 2022, retail sales fell by 1.3%, continuing a downward trend that started in summer 2021.
Outside of food shopping, sales remained flat. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “Households reined in spending as the cost of liveing crunch continued to squeeze consumer demand.
“Many customers are buying down, particularly with food, choosing value range items where they might previously have bought premium goods.”
