(Bloomberg) — The UK may be among the countries worst affected by the cost-of-living crisis, but there are some things that British people are reluctant to give up.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Gym memberships and streaming subscriptions, such as Netflix and Disney, are some of the last services that consumers say they’d cut when looking for savings on household expenses, according to a survey by YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project, produced with the Intellectual Forum at Jesus College.
The figures released exclusively to Bloomberg shed light on how consumers are coping with the biggest cost-of-living squeeze in decades. Britain’s inflation rate has topped 10.1%, the most in four decades, sounding alarm bells at the Bank of England and UK Treasury and increasing the risk of a long recession.
In a survey spanning 25 nations, 81% those polled in the UK said their cost of living had gone up in the past six months, a level trailing only Germany and Spain. Only 9% of these said they had completely cut spending on gym memberships and streaming subscriptions — lower than any other country in the study. More than half had made some cuts, but almost 30% said they hadn’t reduced their spending on subscriptions and memberships at all.
Luxury items and clothes retailers bore the brunt of weakening demand, with about three-quarters of UK respondents identifying those as places where they’d cut spending. Other leisure activities like days, meals and coffees out also took a hit, and shoppers sought cost savings on their weekly grocery shop.
The findings show most Britons are cutting their spending, adding to evidence that retailers and hospitality are likely to take a hit.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Add Comment