capital-economics-consumer-outlook

Consumer insights, tailored to your market

Our Consumer Insights service gives retailers, consumer goods and services businesses, and financial institutions an independent view of where household spending is heading. Understand what economic changes mean for your customers’ spending, with analysis to support planning, budgeting and strategy.

Discuss your requirements

What is our Consumer Insights service?

Our Consumer Insights service turns our macroeconomic forecasts into a view of consumer demand that’s relevant to you. The subscription combines quarterly reports, monthly updates, spending forecasts and access to our economists. Tailoring focuses on an Executive Summary highlighting issues relevant to your business and selection from available report sections covering the spending categories that matter to you.

Consumer spending rarely moves in step with the wider economy. Our approach connects Capital Economics’ macroeconomic forecasts with analysis of household finances, explaining how drivers such as incomes, inflation and interest rates affect consumer groups and spending categories and what this means for you.

Quarterly reports

An economist-led assessment of the consumer outlook to help you test demand assumptions, set budgets and plan ahead, with access to our economists to discuss the findings.

Monthly updates

A one-page read each month on the indicators that show how households are faring.

Spending forecasts

Forecasts for essential and discretionary spending, broken down by customer segment.

Tailored analysis

Focus on the consumer insights most relevant to your business. Our reports can be tailored through an Executive Summary highlighting issues and insights relevant to your business, and a choice of sections covering the spending categories that matter to you.

How do teams use our consumer insights?

Strategy, finance and risk teams use our analysis to answer practical questions about household spending. Select a use case to see how we can help.

Budgeting and business planning

How much consumer demand should you plan for next year?

Set budgets and sales targets against an independent view of the economy. We show what changes in incomes, inflation and interest rates, for example, mean for demand across essential and discretionary markets. That gives your financial planning and strategy teams a firmer basis for their assumptions.

Discuss with our team

What does our Consumer Insights service include?

Our Consumer Insights service gives retailers, consumer goods and services businesses, and financial institutions an independent view of where household spending is heading. The subscription includes quarterly reports with forecasts for essential and discretionary spending categories, alongside monthly one-page updates on indicators such as wages, consumer confidence, retail sales, and. Each quarterly report includes a dedicated section tailored to your business, focused on the categories and consumer groups you choose. Each part links our macroeconomic forecasts to household finances, so you can see what changes in incomes, inflation and interest rates, for example, mean for consumer demand in your market.

capital-economics-consumer-outlook-quarterly-subscription

Quarterly reports

Our reports give you flexibility to focus on the spending categories and consumer groups most relevant to your business. Our economists help put the analysis into context and explore what changing consumer behaviour could mean for your outlook.

This provides the consistency of an ongoing research service, combined with access to expert economic insight to support demand assumptions, budgeting and investment. Additional focused analysis and tailoring are available where greater depth is required.

capital-economics-consumer-outlook-monthly-reports

Monthly updates

Monthly one-page updates tracking key indicators and their implications for consumers, including consumer confidence and retail sales.

Indicators such as these give a timely read on how households are faring. Each update explains what the latest data mean for consumers, so your team can see shifts in demand as they emerge and test them against your own plans.

capital-economics-consumer-outlook-spending forecasts

Spending forecasts

We forecast essential and discretionary spending categories separately and analyse customer segments, rather than treating consumers as a single group.

We look beyond the average consumer, examining differences in income, wealth and age, and how the costs of essentials affect the money available to spend or save. This gives your team a clearer view of which customers are under pressure, where spending has room to grow and what that means for your planning assumptions.

capital-economics-consumer-outlook-report

Tailored analysis

Each quarterly report can be tailored through its Executive Summary and selection from available spending-category sections. We work with you to understand the categories, consumer groups and questions most relevant to your plans, drawing on the analysis covered by the service.

The emphasis is on what the consumer outlook means for demand in your market. This may include assessing pressures on relevant customer groups or prospects for particular spending categories. The analysis gives your team a focused view to inform budgeting, strategy and investment decisions.

Who is the Consumer Insights service for?

We work with consumer-facing organisations exposed to households spending.

Corporates

Retail and consumer goods and services businesses. Strategy, FP&A and insight teams planning around household budgets and demand for essential and discretionary spending.

Financial institutions

Banks, lenders, asset managers and private equity firms assessing consumer demand, testing revenue assumptions and understanding exposure across lending and investment portfolios.

The team behind your consumer outlook

Grant Colquhoun

Grant Colquhoun

Chief Consultancy Economist

Grant is Chief Consultancy Economist at Capital Economics, with more than 30 years’ experience across consultancy, industry and government. Previously at Oxford Economics and HM Treasury, he brings extensive expertise in how economic developments affect individual sectors and markets. He leads our Consumer Outlook service, connecting macroeconomic forecasts with analysis of household finances to help businesses understand the implications for consumer demand.
Andrew Evans

Andrew Evans

Deputy Chief Consultancy Economist

Andy is Deputy Chief Consultancy Economist at Capital Economics, that he joined over 14 years ago. He has extensive experience assessing opportunities across markets and sectors, helping organisations shape business and investment strategies. His work connects economic analysis with commercial decisions, including the implications for customer demand and market growth.

Contact us

How can we support your team?

Tell us about your market, and we can talk through:

  • Your priority spending categories and consumer groups
  • How our forecasts could feed into your budgets and plans
  • Whether a report, subscription or tailored analysis fits best

Prefer email? consultancy@capitaleconomics.com

Indicates required field