Technology UBS Evidence Lab inside: Wave 6 of COVID-19 Consumer Spending Survey
UBS Evidence Lab surveyed 1,000 consumers across the US on June 2-4 about their spending expectations over the next 2-4 weeks & post-coronavirus.
Total Respondents – Wave 6 (June 2)
Source: UBS Evidence Lab
Wave 6 of the survey shows stabilization after recent improvement
UBS Evidence Lab surveyed 1,000 consumers across the country on June 2-4 about their spending expectations over the next 2-4 weeks and in the post-coronavirus period. The two key trends from this wave of survey data are: 1) Consumers’ expectations about their spending have largely stabilized, but with little incremental improvement in the past few weeks following the reopening of some geographies; 2) Among those using debit/credit cards more, a majority (72%) intend to continue doing so post-crisis, primarily because of the cards‘ utility in ecommerce.
Three key trends from the past 12 weeks of this survey data
1) Despite improvement, a significant minority of consumers (~24%) still intend to spend less in the near future vs. the pre-virus period (~38% in wave 3). 2) Affluent consumer spending is rebounding, but not on travel and entertainment: While 83% of the higher income cohort intend to maintain or increase spending in the near term (68% wave 3), many still intend to spend less on travel (55%), entertainment (50%) and dining out (44%) vs. the pre-crisis period. 3) There is an accelerated shift to using plastic, with 39% of lower income / 47% of mid / 58% of high income cohorts showing elevated card usage, and 63%/78%/81% intending to sustain this usage going forward.
