SURVEY | Shoppers’ confidence continues to fade in 3Q

The Macau University of Science and Technology’s consumer index indicates that Macau consumers’ confidence continued to decline in the third quarter of the year, while confidence in the local economy and employment has tumbled to a record low.
Up to 1,015 locals aged over 18 who were surveyed between September 9 and 21 expressed a fading level of confidence in the local economy. The survey was aimed at gauging how confident they were feeling about the economic outlook, considering multiple aspects classified in eight categories and measured on a scale from 0 to 200.
The general index stands at 81.57, a 5.09 percent fall from the previous quarter. The local economy index reflects the overall pessimism of the community as this quarter’s poll recorded the fourth fall in the index. Now standing below the confidence level of 100, this is in stark contrast to the 22 consecutive quarters of confidence recorded from the third quarter of 2009.
Against the background of disappointing gaming earnings for the sixteenth month in a row, the report concludes that consumers have transitioned from being “adequately optimistic, then cautiously optimistic, even to relatively pessimistic” from late 2009 to early this year.
The only two categories seeing increases are those of price levels and flat purchases. The former recorded a 10.47-percent spike quarter-on-quarter, indicating a lessening apprehension among consumers, while the latter, despite remaining the lowest index of them all, highlights a more positive sentiment among consumers with its 17.44-percent increase this quarter.
Traditionally the highest index of all four quarters, confidence towards employment has sunk beneath the confidence level for the first time since the third quarter of 2010.
The economic downturn has also shaken consumers’ desire to invest in shares and weighed on them in terms of livelihood, as both indices saw decreases to different extents compared to the previous quarter.
The survey stresses in its conclusions that potential factors for driving up confidence among consumers include: economic diversification; strengthened regional cooperation; ensuring balanced supply and demand on the property market; and continuing to curb inflation.