“Consumers’ spending power is being hit by the squeeze on incomes as inflation continues to outpace average wage rises. In four of the last five months, people have been more likely to feel worse off compared to a year ago than to say that their finances have improved. This is the first time this has happened since the start of 2015.

However, the majority of people still feel OK, and expect to get by in the year to come. Most importantly for retailers, consumers’ appetite to spend is higher than at any point since we started to track planned spending in June 2012. While there are legitimate concerns about the role of consumer credit in this spending, this attitude offers plenty of sales opportunities for British businesses.

Reflecting this willingness to spend, Mintel has predicted that Christmas sales will be between 1-2% up on 2016, which would be a solid performance, particularly given the broader economic uncertainty faced by the UK.”

– Rich Shepherd, Senior Financial Services Research Analyst