Americans Tightening Purse Strings in 2012

By Rieva Lesonsky

Small business owners have heard a lot of heartening news in the past month as Americans pull out the stops for holiday spending. The holidays seemed to have unleashed a lot of pent-up desires for customers who’ve been cutting back on spending for three years. Well, according to a just-released Harris Poll, don’t expect the spending to continue. Instead, as 2012 dawns, consumers are going back to the “new normal” of reduced expectations and spending.

Over the past three years, the Harris Poll reports, consumers’ spending and saving behaviors really haven’t changed month. The survey, conducted every 6 months, asks consumers how likely they are to spend on a variety of things in the next six months.

Overall, the majority of respondents are planning to cut back on dining and entertainment. Six out of 10 U.S. adults plan to spend less eating out at restaurants (61 percent) and on entertainment (58 percent) within the next 6 months. Just 3 in 10 (29 percent) plan to take a vacation of longer than a week in the next six months.

Other areas where Americans don’t plan to spend:

• Buying a boat or recreational vehicle (97 percent unlikely);
• Buying or leasing a new car, truck or van (88 percent unlikely);
• Moving to a different residence (86 percent unlikely) or purchasing a house or condo (93 percent unlikely); and,
• Starting a new business (94 percent unlikely)
• Buying a new computer (77 percent).

Just 26 percent of Americans predict they will have more money to spend the way they want in the next 6 months, down from the 28 percent who said so in May 2011 and the 30 percent who said so in January 2011.

“As the economy fluctuates and Americans continue to feel pessimistic about employment prospects, it only follows that non-essential spending would continue to be scrutinized,” the report notes. “As it stands now, the cycle of bad feelings and decreased spending does not look like it’s positioned to change anytime soon.”

With January traditionally a time that consumers re-tighten their belts after holiday spending, perhaps these pessimistic predictions will get a little sunnier in the next Harris Poll due in May.

Image by Flickr user Jo Naylor (Creative Commons)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 at 6:00 am and is filed under Business Development, sales process, Small Business, small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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