Consumer sentiment sank to a record low in April as weeks of U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran have impacted oil prices globally, a new University of Michigan survey found. Consumer confidence has dropped nearly 11 percent since March, a downward trend that started after the U.S. and Israel launched a joint military campaign against Iran on… Source link
Busy, distracted, anxious, many of us have remained oblivious to the escalating level of work that we do as customers. A 2025 U.K. report found not only that 78% of respondents report frustration when dealing with customer service systems, but also that on average “we spend between 28 and 41 minutes every week dealing with them in lengthy battles.” Like the frog in slowly boiling water, by the time this regime had fully taken hold, it seemed too late to escape. Even the most basic elements of the commercial retail environment are now being transmuted into sites of customer work as when, for example, shops decline to post their hours of operation, proffering instead a QR code that the customer must scan with a cellphone to obtain the needed information. Using QR codes can be hazardous — through “quishing” in which phone users’ private information is extracted by malicious actors — and yet they enjoy an increasingly incontestable primacy. A vast array of predatory anti-consumer policies and practices are flourishing, and often the clashes over …
As Forest Gump’s Mom used to say, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get”. She’s right, of course: Life can be random and unpredictable. Sometimes, these random events are easily dismissible as mere coincidences. But other times, it feels meant to be. Now, the event doesn’t seem so random at all. Instead, the event assumes a greater significance. It turns out that something like this may play out in the consumer world. When we come across a product unexpectedly, do we enjoy it more than if we expected to see it? Does it seem “meant to be”? That is, do serendipitous experiences with products enhance our attitudes towards them? Across six studies, researchers Aekyoung Kim and Donnel Briley of The University of Sydney examined the consumer psychology of happenstance. Let’s dive in. Evaluating Happenstance and Product Evaluation In study one, 100 participants were approached in the real world and presented with a specific product: a postcard. After examining the card, the researchers gave them the choice of …
After Boomers and Gen X dragged The Conference Board Confidence measure down to eight month lows to end 2025, expectations were for a rebound to start 2026. Instead, January was a bloodbath with all the cohorts tumbling. Today sees February’s data released with expectations for a rebound, particularly in expectations… and the consensus was right. The headline Consumer Confidence print rose from 84.5 (revised dramatically up to 89.0) to 91.2 (better than the 87.1 expected) Under the hood it was kind of crazy with the dismal Present Situation print for January of 113.7 dramatically revised up to 121.8, which meant the 120.0 print for February was actually a decline MoM (but better than expected). The Expectations sub-index rose from a revised 67.2 to 72.0 (also better than expected). So, overall, confidence ticked up in February after falling in January, as consumers’ pessimistic expectations for the future eased somewhat. “Comments about prices, inflation, and the cost of goods remained at the top of consumers’ minds,” Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board, said in a statement. …
