| 01/11/2010 |
US SHOPPERS BACK? |
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(Reuters) - U.S. shoppers are set to spend more in 2010 as purchasing power increases and wealth rebounds but a big shopping spree in the next few years is not in the cards, according to a study released on Sunday by consultant Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and STORES Media.
Instead, U.S. consumers will stay focused on saving money to rebuild the trillions in wealth lost as a result of the worst recession in the past two years since the Great Depression.
Despite what Deloitte called a "sharp" rebound in fundamentals such as hourly wages and pent up demand, those events may have permanently made consumers more cautious.
"They're in a position to spend," said Ira Kalish, the director of consumer business for Deloitte Research in the United States, at a National Retail Federation conference.
"Whether they will or will not depends on their level of confidence," Kalish said, warning that U.S. consumer behavior would be particularly hard to forecast.
He predicted shoppers would put off spending on big ticket items and remain value-oriented for the foreseeable future.
Kalish said consumer spending, which now makes up about 62 percent of the U.S. economy, will grow more slowly in the United States and Britain and other consumption-led economies for several years as households pay down debt.
But consumer spending in countries such as China and other countries with large trade surpluses are set to grow more quickly.
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