September 2022 - Consumer Mindset
Moving from one crisis to the next
Since the beginning of 2022, the world has jumped from one crisis to another. At the beginning, COVID-19 was still very much a part of peoples’ lives. In February, Putin gave orders for Russia to invade Ukraine which had a knock-on effect and led to a significant rise in inflation over the past six months – although the rate of inflation declined slightly from to 9.1% in July to 8.7% in August, it remains at a very high level. As well as these issues, the housing crisis has yet to be solved and while President Biden recently declared the “pandemic is over” and festivals like Electric Picnic return; inflation, war and housing are a continuing cause of concern for people living in Ireland.
Inflation, inflation, inflation
We are now six months into the cost-of-living crisis and concern has increased to 61% in September, which is ahead of concern around COVID-19 in the same month in 2020 (55%). Optimism that we can overcome the cost-of-living situation also remains well below any of the months of COVID-19 in 2020. As the public return from time away, they are forced to face the reality of the cost-of-living situation. The Government is receiving criticism for their handling of the cost-of-living crisis, with just 24% approving of how they are handling the crisis versus 54% who approved of how they handled COVID-19 in September 2022. While energy companies have the lowest net approval rating of -83%. The need to improve hope in the coming months and thus improve consumer confidence has yet to be achieved.
Housing remains a key issue
Housing also remains a key issue for the Irish public. Images of lengthy queues to view a home in Dublin were spread widely on social media. Private rent inflation has been on the increase for close to ten years and over this period has averaged at +6.3% annually. Daft’s recent report which revealed there was an all-time low of less than 300 properties available to rent in Dublin on the first day of August and only 716 properties were available nationwide, was the second most significant news story in September. 61% of the public believe this news story is very significant with 53% of people aware of the story either disgusted, angry or sad about the housing crisis. As well as this, landlords are currently only ahead of energy companies when it comes to approval of how they are handling the cost of living situation with a net negative score of -55%. Housing is and will remain a key priority for the population of Ireland.
Combination of factors negatively impacting mood of the nation
It is this combination of factors that has led to an increase in negative emotions like stress (34%), worry (36%) and frustration (26%) which are on the rise in terms of emotions people felt yesterday and at their highest levels for 2022.
With this is mind, there is an opportunity for brands to be the reassuring voice and help consumers navigate the tougher times ahead.
