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Don’t waste another dime on bloated channel reporting and vanity metrics.
Don’t waste another dime on bloated channel reporting and vanity metrics.
Consumer sentiment got rosier after the lows of the last two months.
Food prices are set to keep rising. Photo by (Viki Mohamad on Unsplash)
With inflation high and talk of a recession in the air, economic data is being closely watched for signs of whether the US can avoid a big economic slowdown.
Here’s a look at fresh data released in the latter part of this week. Together, it provides a look a snapshot of where the consumer economy is right now:
First, the good news: The preferred inflation index of the Federal Reserve showed price pressure eased up in July.
The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index showed an increase of 6.3% year-over-year for July, according to data released by the US Commerce Department on Friday. That was down from the 6.8% increase in June, which was a new 40-year-high. Prices for goods continue to rise, as they were up 9.5% for the month. Food prices, meanwhile, rose 11.9%.
On a month-over-month basis, this gauge showed a 0.1% decline – a welcome note of deflation after months of increases.
The core PCE price index, which excludes more volatile food and energy prices, registered a 4.6% year-over-year increase, down slightly from the 4.8% increase in June. On a month-over-month basis, this index increased 0.1% for the year, down from the 0.6% monthly comparison in June.
While there are signs that inflation is still going in the right direction, the big-picture conditions essentially remain the same: We are in a period of 40-year-high inflation, with the year-over-year PCE price index well above the Fed’s target of 2%.
Consumer spending changes, July 2022. (via US Commerce Department)
Shortly after the new data was released, Fed Chair Jerome Powell drove home the message that there’s a long way to go until the inflation is under control when he spoke at the central bank’s annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
“While the lower inflation readings for July are welcome, a single month’s improvement falls far short of what the Committee will need to see before we are confident that inflation is moving down,” Powell said.
Powell said this will affect both overall economic activity and the labor market, which has continued to be tight even in the face of rising prices.
“While higher interest rates, slower growth, and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses,” Powell said. “These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation. But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain.”
Without bringing prices down, Powell said that the economy is unable to have a longer period of good job conditions. He also offered a reminder that, “The burdens of high inflation fall heaviest on those who are least able to bear them.”
While the Fed delivered back-to-back rate hikes of 0.75% in June and July that are still setting in, more increases are likely to be on the way. Powell didn’t say anything definitive about the key bank committee’s next move when it meets again in September. However, he sent a strong signal that the hikes are likely to continue.
“Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time,” Powell said. “The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy.”
Offering his own takeaways from that history, Powell added that, “We must keep at it until the job is done.”
As prices start to fall and gas prices in particular drop, consumers are starting to feel a bit better.
Consumer sentiment ticked up in August, marking a 13% increase over July, according to the final reading of the month University of Michigan Survey of Consumers, In particular, people are getting more optimistic about what’s coming, as the year-ahead outlook rose 59% after two months at its lowest point since the 2008 recession.
“The gains in sentiment were seen across age, education, income, region, and political affiliation, and can be attributed to the recent deceleration in inflation,” wrote Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu. “Lower-income consumers, who have fewer resources to buffer against inflation, posted particularly large gains on all index components. Their sentiment now even exceeds that of higher-income consumers, when it typically lags higher-income sentiment by over 15 points.”
While Hsu hopes this improvement continues, it’s worth noting that sentiment is still historically low. The August consumer sentiment number rose on a month-over-month comparison, but it was a 17% year-over-year decrease.
While he wasn’t directly addressing this consumer sentiment data, Fed Chair Powell spoke about the role that public attitudes play when it comes to combating inflation. Getting prices under control is not only about data. When people think prices will remain high, they will adjust accordingly in their plans for spending and requests for wage increases. In turn, that is likely to keep driving prices up.
“Inflation has just about everyone's attention right now, which highlights a particular risk today: The longer the current bout of high inflation continues, the greater the chance that expectations of higher inflation will become entrenched,” he said.
Some of those expectations are set by forecasts, and the US Department of Agriculture delivered one such outlook this week.
The USDA offered data on the first half of the year and a projection on the second half iin a report on food inflation, which is a particular area of concern as gas prices begin to ease.
Retail food prices rose 8.9% in the first seven month of 2022. Compare that to the same period in 2021, when they rose 1.9%. The 20-year average through 2020, similarly, was 1.7%.
“Prices will continue to change during the remainder of 2022 and may significantly affect the annual inflation rate,” the USDA wrote, pointing to the fact that food price increases were sharper in the second half of 2021.
In all, the USDA projects that food prices will rise between 10 and 11 percent in 2022, which would well outpace the overall inflation rate.
As the watch is on for a recession, overall US businessactivity is showing continued signs of slowing.
S&P Global’s Flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) registered a 27-month low, as S&P senior economist Siân Jones warned of “disconcerting signs” for the economy.
“Demand conditions were dampened again, sparked by the impact of interest rate hikes and strong inflationary pressures on customer spending, which weighed on activity,” Jones said in a statement. “Gathering clouds spread across the private sector as services new orders returned to contractionary territory, mirroring the subdued demand conditions seen at their manufacturing counterparts.”
On average, customers spend $59 more than the value of their gift card, Fiserv found.
In retail, sales are often measured in goods, whether they are purchased for ourselves or someone else. There are plenty of strategies that brands and retailers use to increase those sales, whether it is marketing, loyalty programs or how that item is presented.
In most cases, these are two different parts of the equation for retailers: The product that is bought and the strategies that lead to the purchase.
That’s what makes the gift card unique.
It is an item you can buy, with a section in the store all its own. Eventually, it leads to the purchase of other goods, so the gift card is leads to a direct sale. Yet it’s also a means to build a retail brand and create incentives that both introduce customers to a store and keep them coming back.
That’s a key takeaway from the 20th Annual U.S. Prepaid Consumer Insights Study from fintech and payments company Fiserv.
At this point, the gift card feels like a staple of the shopping experience. But it is only about 30 years old. In 1994, Blockbuster Video pioneered the sale of cards for gifted purchases directly as a means to combat fraud in paper gift certificates. Since then, they’ve proven to have a multitude of uses that stretch beyond the holidays.
Starbucks and Amazon gift cards are commonly distributed as prizes at team-building events and as pick-me-ups by friends showing they care. In 2022, 60% of consumers said they received a gift card from an employer, according to the Fiserv report. That was a big increase from 32% in 2019. People appreciate the gesture. The survey found that 85% of employees think that gift cards from an employer make for appropriate incentives.
For people looking to show generosity, gift cards can also be a means to stretch dollars. At a time of high inflation, people are looking for deals with their discretionary purchases. Gift card promotions that offer discounts and bonuses are proving particularly popular, the study found. Two-thirds of consumers said promotions can influence them to purchase more, while more than half of consumers took advantage of such an offer in 2022.
Yet the more difficult consumer environment is also having an impact on overall gift card sales. In 2022, the growth of gift card purchases slowed.
“Overall, 56% of U.S. consumers purchased more gift cards in 2022 compared to 2021,” said Tom Niedbalski, VP of gift solutions at Fiserv. “This was a decline from the 73% of consumers who said they bought more gift cards in 2021 than they did in 2020.”
Inflation and less discretionary income were the driving factors for consumers who said they bought fewer gift cards during 2022, as 35% of consumers said inflation was the reason they were purchasing fewer cards.
It's important for brands and retailers to understand why consumers buy gift cards. But it's just as crucial to understand where they can fit in retail strategy. Beyond sales, gift cards can help drive repeat customers, and extend a brand. These tools are particularly valuable at a time when retailers are focused on profitability in a tougher consumer environment.
Fiserv explained four areas in which gift cards are of particular value for brands.The following is directly quoted from Niedbalski:
Improving cash flow and revenue. Gift cards not only drive in-store and online traffic, there is an associated “lift,” or overspend, when a gift card is converted into a sale. On average, customers spend $59 more than the value of their gift card.
Repeat customers. Retailers use gift cards to foster loyalty and customer engagement, ultimately leading to repeat customers. One way we see this play out is through promotions associated with gift card sales. For example: a consumer who buys a $100 gift card for the holidays will receive a $20 bonus card that can be used after January 1 – creating a pre-holiday sale and post-holiday transaction in the New Year.
Branded currency. A gift card places a merchant’s brand directly into the consumer’s wallet, increasing brand awareness and ensuring the merchant’s brand is with the consumer when they are looking to buy.
Year-round marketing. The gift card has grown beyond the traditional holiday season. From birthdays and graduations to anniversaries and babies, gift cards are becoming the most popular way to recognize milestones – giving retailers opportunities to run additional promotions throughout the year.