Amex Trendex Finds Shifts in Global Spending
As countries reopen, the Amex Trendex — a trend report from American Express — found that almost half of global consumers are feeling optimistic about the economy. And despite countries reopening at different paces, consumers in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Japan, Mexico and Canada are showing common spending sentiments in the last month.
Many consumers are showing they are ready to shop. According to the report, 37 percent of U.S. consumers, 42 percent of Australian consumers and 43 percent of Japanese consumers are planning to visit a mall or stand-alone retail store in the next month. While consumers continue to note hesitancy to take part in activities that are not as conforming to social distancing, like visiting bars, attending concerts, or going to night clubs, local businesses are likely to benefit. In total, 78 percent of global consumers say they plan to visit local restaurants and 71 percent say they will visit coffee shops in the next month.
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According to the report, consumers across the globe are looking to make purchases over $200 in the next month. Top categories for planned spending are electronics, travel and home appliances.
Still, across the six countries surveyed, consumers in the U.S. were least likely to be planning a large purchase over $200 at 54 percent compared to 77 percent in Japan. Of those U.S. consumers who are planning to make a large purchase, 16 percent said they would spend on travel while 14 percent said they would spend in the electronics category.
“With so much more time spent at home the past couple months, we see people are thinking about making larger purchases on things like home appliances and technology,” said Eva Reda, executive vice president and general manager, global partnerships and product development at American Express.
For U.S. consumers, travel plans will focus on health and safety, and according to the survey, they are willing to pay more to ensure these measures. In fact, 63 percent said they would pay more to have every other seat free on a plane, 56 percent said they would pay more for frequent cleaning of hotel rooms, and 49 percent said they would pay for the availability of hand sanitizer.
Consumers in the U.K. were most likely to be planning to travel domestically at 69 percent in the next three months, followed by Mexico at 47 percent and Japan at 45 percent. Only 40 percent of consumers in the U.S. and Canada said they planned to travel domestically.
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