Australian consumers plan to reduce their use of credit cards for holiday shopping and instead will rely on their own savings to pay, new survey data suggest.
Economic uncertainty and financial instability appear to be influencing increasingly conservative behavior from consumers, Christine Christian, CEO Dun & Bradstreet, said in a statement accompanying the company’s survey results, which found that nearly two-thirds of respondents plan to use their own savings to pay for holiday gifts.
Ordinarily, borrowing is expected to rise more dramatically around Christmastime, but the results indicate otherwise, she said.
Market research company Newspoll conducted the nationwide online survey for Dun & Bradstreet, polling 1,212 respondents ages 18 to 64 in September.
Only 20% of the respondents planned to apply for new credit, while the number of cardholders applying for a credit-limit increase fell by 50% since the beginning of 2011, the survey found.
Moreover, almost 50% of the respondents said that they had no plans to make a major purchase over the next three months, while 82% of those planning a major purchase said they would use their savings to pay.
The findings do not bode well for the retail and tourism sectors already experiencing an otherwise dismal year, Christian said.
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