In short, they’re starting to disappear. In May 3/4 of respondents had a job but now it’s only 2/3. Those still in a job are more likely to be travelling to their normal place of work, up from 22% to 38%. This isn’t due to fewer people working from home, which has only fallen marginally from 42% to 38%, but down to a big drop in those on full time furlough, down from 20% to 5% (although a further 3% are partly working partly on furlough). The fall in furlough and rise in working on site has been driven mainly by the revival of many industries that shut down completely in the lockdown such as retail, hospitality, leisure, building and construction plus many services normally provided in people’s homes. The new survey shows that most people who can work remotely are still working from home.

Remembering that this survey took place before any Tier 3 lockdowns or hospitality closures, here are the main categories receiving less of customers’ disposable income.

Note that spending less far outweighs spending more. For allocating more disposable income, the top category was saving and whilst 13% said they hadn’t been spending less on anything, 28% haven’t been spending more on anything.

Customers’ behaviours are driven by their attitudes and beliefs. During the national lockdown we identified 3 attitudinal segments.

Several months on in October, the diagram shows that the proportions in each segment are still almost identical.

Whilst 24% can’t wait to Live Life to the full again, this is now matched by the extremely cautious Protect Lifers and the Appreciate Life segment has cemented its predominant position. So what does this mean for future spending? With over 3/4 of the population still much less inclined to have a hedonistic lifestyle it suggests that greater propensity to save and more spending on home life – investment in the home and garden, food and drink for home consumption and home entertainment – are set to continue. Companies in the hospitality, foreign travel and clothing sectors will need to think very carefully about their segmentation and targeting 

The latest update of TLF’s UK Consumer Sentiment Index (coming soon in the next issue of Customer Insight Magazine) shows that consumers’ confidence in current financial conditions bounced back strongly over the summer, whilst their expectations for the future have stayed depressed into October. However, the Sentiment Index showed a divide between consumers who are positive and those who are negative about their own financial prospects.