APAC consumers confident yet cautious

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE   ASIA PACIFIC   MARKETS

Regional - Consumers in Asia Pacific are cautiously optimistic and display higher level of confidence compared to the last two years, according to the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence.

Overall consumer confidence across the region reached a score of 68 on the index, which is marginally lower than the score six months ago, but higher than last year's score of 66.3.

Respondents reported feeling most optimistic about regular incomes and least optimistic about the quality of life.

While consumers in the region have a less positive perception of the economy compared to six months ago, it is the highest the region has seen in the last five years.

"This perception could be in large part due to the uncertainties caused by inflation, the various tightening measures that governments across the region are implementing, and the general slowdown in growth that the region is seeing post-crisis," Yvette Oh, group executive of market development in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa for MasterCard Worldwide said.

The survey revealed Vietnamese consumers as most optimistic, followed by those from Singapore and the Philippines. On the flipside, Japanese consumers continue to remain most pessimistic in the region, and their confidence has dropped even more from six months ago.

Meanwhile, consumer sentiment in Thailand is at its most positive in four years, while for consumers in Philippines it's the highest since 1997.

The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence is released twice a year and based on five economic indicators - economy, employment, stock market, regular income, and quality of life.

The latest report polled 10,502 consumers from 24 markets from 13 September to 11 November 2010.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Have you joined the campaign for free content?

Subscribe to Marketing and marketing-interactive for FREE:
Marketing-interactive.com/subscribe.

Breaking news and intelligent analysis. Always free.