Survey: No Improvement in Consumer Sentiment in Retail This Year

Retailers and consumers do not expect a better consumer sentiment in the fourth quarter. The spending plans for Christmas are currently considered "cautious," according to a survey by the Linz Institute for Retail, Sales, and Marketing (IHaM). Retail managers also look skeptically at the coming months, according to the trade researchers at Linz Johannes Kepler University, referring to Eurostat data.

Majority plans to spend the same on Christmas gifts

According to a recent IHaM survey, 30 percent of Austrians (aged 16-74) plan to spend less on gifts this year than last year, and 15 percent do not buy any Christmas presents at all. Only 7 percent want to increase their gift budget. 48 percent plan to spend the same amount on Christmas presents as last year.

The JKU researchers have also analyzed current retail survey data from the EU statistics agency Eurostat for Austria. The balance of positive and negative expectations of managers in the Austrian retail sector regarding the business situation in the fourth quarter of 2025 has improved from -13 percentage points to -5 percentage points compared to the previous year, but it is still below the zero line.

"Held hostage by the poor consumer climate"

"Our economy is held hostage by the poor consumer climate - and this is considered a reliable predictor for the coming months," commented IHaM Institute Director Christoph Teller on the survey data. "A sustainable and significant upswing in the Christmas business is therefore not to be expected from today's perspective," said IHaM trade expert Ernst Gittenberger.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.