Business news and buying

There is a great deal of talk about “cut through” these days – usually in relation to politics, where commentators regularly wonder whether a news story will benefit one party or disadvantage another.

Well, if there’s not always a clear and uncomplicated relationship between action and consequence in this particular arena, there may well be in another: economics. Data from YouGov Profiles shows that, across six markets, people are more likely than not to consider news about finance and the economy before making large purchases – with one notable exception.

Germans are most likely to agree that they take economic news into account before buying a big ticket item: nearly three in five do so compared to three in ten who don’t (59% vs. 29%). Half of consumers in Singapore (52% vs. 13%), the UAE (52% vs. 12%) and the US (50% vs. 31%) have the same position, though there are considerably more dissenters in the latter country.

In both Spain and Australia, two in five say they consider financial and economic news before making a purchase (40%), while a quarter in both nations do not (25% Spain; 26% Australia).

Only in Britain is there a relatively even split between the two camps: two in five agree that they take the economic climate into account before buying, and two in five take a more blasé approach to any macro-economic head (or tail-) winds (39%).

Digging deeper into other attitudes may illuminate why these consumers are less likely to trust financial news. Ask a German (64%) or an American (61%) if they trust newspapers that have a reputation for objectivity proven by their track record, and most will agree; among Britons, this falls to just under half (48%). Ask an American if they trust newspapers to print the truth, and two in five (40%) will say yes, as will half of Germans; but only a quarter (27%) of Britons feel the same. It could be that disdain for the media runs so deep in Britain that the public is as willing to ignore financial and economic news in their consumer decisions as they are to take it into account.

Methodology

YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.

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