• Two-thirds of consumers will reduce their spending over the next year
• Restaurants will be hit the hardest, followed by takeaways and clothing stores
• Nurseries, solicitors and accountants will fare the best

23 June 2020, LONDON –

Two-thirds of consumers (66%) expect to reduce their spending in certain industries over the next year, according to research from personal finance comparison site finder.com.

However, not all consumers have plans to tighten their belts. A quarter (26%) say that they expect to spend the same amount or more compared with before lockdown, across all local businesses.

The businesses that will be hit the hardest are restaurants, with over a third of consumers (35%) intending to spend less at eateries over the next year than they did previously.

Following this are takeaways and clothing stores, with 27% of consumers planning to spend less of their money on these businesses. Pubs and cafes may also not fare so well with around a quarter of consumers (26% and 25%, respectively) expecting to reduce their spending over the next year.

Nurseries and childcare, solicitors and accountants will be sectors least affected, with only 4% saying they plan to rein in their spending on each of these areas.

It is also relatively good news for builders, painters and decorators and plumbers who will also only experience a 5% decrease in consumer spending.

To see the research in full and the paper “Business loans in lockdown and beyond: How SMEs are funding their future”, visit: https://www.finder.com/uk/business-loans-coronavirus#loans-paper.

Commenting on the findings, Matt Slater, credit and loans specialist at finder.com said:

“The last few months have brought a huge amount of disruption to most sectors, and this is reflected in the number of businesses that have sought out the government-backed CBILS and Bounce Back loan schemes.

“This will have been a huge help to a lot of local businesses but they still have a lot of work to do in order to survive going forward. Many will need to spend time and money rethinking their business model to offer the same service while being compliant with new government regulations. They will also have to do all of this against the backdrop of less income, as shown by this research.”

Methodology:
Finder commissioned Onepoll on 12-16 June to carry out a nationally representative survey of adults aged 18+. A total of 2,000 people were questioned throughout Great Britain, with representative quotas for gender, age and region.