Consumers want to buy less because of recession concerns

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Sunrise at Timmendorfer Strand (archive image): less vacation?

Photo: Michael Probst/AP

Almost three quarters of people in Germany are worried about a possible economic downturn and intend to adjust their purchasing behavior.

This is shown by a survey of 2035 people by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the management consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners.

The majority can imagine restrictions, especially when buying new clothes (58 percent) and spending on holidays (55 percent) and leisure activities (52 percent).

Almost every second person (49 percent) said they would go to a restaurant less often.

In addition to recession worries, high inflation is also paralyzing consumption.

According to preliminary official information, consumer prices in Germany in October were 10.4 percent higher than in the same month last year.

This is the highest value for about 70 years.

In the YouGov survey, 60 percent of respondents said they wanted to reduce their consumption in view of rising prices.

According to the survey, companies are also preparing for a recession.

According to their own statements, 60 percent of a total of 520 companies surveyed have at least a partially worked out strategy to be able to react to an economic downturn.

After all, a third is not prepared at all.

It could become even more expensive for customers in the future: According to the survey, every third company would raise prices in the event of a recession.

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