Rising food prices third biggest concern for UK consumers
More than one in five UK consumers regard rising food prices as their first or second biggest concern compared to 18% two years ago, according to figures released by research firm Nielsen.
This makes rising food prices the third biggest concern overall amongst UK consumers and the second-fastest growing concern over the last two years after rising utility bills.
The Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions, established in 2005, measures consumer confidence, major concerns and spending intentions each quarter among more than 29,000 internet consumers in 58 countries.
When looking at UK consumers’ first and second biggest concerns, rising utility bills was a top-two concern for 31% of people, followed by the economy for 23% and rising food prices for 22%.
Never Miss a Retail Update!“It’s hardly surprising that finances dominate our concerns,” says Nielsen managing director for UK & Ireland Chris Morley. “Almost one in three UK consumers have no spare cash once they’ve covered their essential living expenses, much higher than the one in five across Europe as a whole. Furthermore, almost nine in ten consumers think we’re in a recession and, amongst those that do, only 15% think we’ll be out of it within a year.”
Following financial concerns and immigration – reported as a top-two concern by 12% of UK consumers, as it was two years ago – the next most pressing concerns were dominated by quality of life issues.
Health was a top-two concern for 10% of Britons, followed by children’s education and welfare for 8%, and work/life balance for 7%. These figures were generally in line with those from two years ago.
In comparison, crime was cited a s a biggest concern by 5% of Britons, compared to 3% for terrorism, and just 1% for war as concern for all three issues was down on figures recorded in 2011.
Global warming was shown to be a top-two concern for just 2% of Britons, as it was two years ago.
Morley added: “The media news agenda is dominated by financial and violent issues – such as terrorism, crime and war – so it’s easy to forget that close-to-home issues like general health and family well-being are the concerns that are really on consumers’ minds.”
