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The Changing Consumer

Not so fast. That’s the consumer confidence takeaway Filene Research Fellow and McKinsey partner Dorian Stone shared with us at a recent gathering of the research fellows. He also did us the favor of letting us share with you some of the takeaways from McKinsey’s proprietary surveys and analysis. Highlights are here, and Filene members can download the full PDFs for more insights.

  • 7.1% of consumers at the beginning of 2011 say they’ll be paying down debt, while only 2.3% will be shopping for new loans.
  • Fewer than a third of the 3,000 consumers surveyed expected their situation to improve in the next six months, and 60% are continuing to cut their spending.
  • Across a range of six loan types (mortgage, second mortgage, auto, personal, short-term, and education) consumers on average only planned net borrowing increases in short-term loans.
  • An increasing reliance on personal recommendations in decisionmaking means credit unions will have to ‘win’ attention rather than relying on traditional marketing.

Image credit:Newsday