BIGresearch: 7 in 10 Consumers Remain Down About Financial
Situation, Majority Aren’t Spending on Discretionary Purchases

Consumers Unsure about Chrysler’s Survival

COLUMBUS, OH -- (MARKET WIRE) – 5/19/09 – 71.6% of consumers say they aren’t feeling better about their personal financial situation, according to BIGresearch’s May 2009 Consumer Intentions & Actions (CIA) Survey of 8,447 consumers (http://www.bigresearch.com). Women (74.6%) and those who live in the Northeast (74.4%) are even more “under the weather.”

Are you feeling better about your economic situation?

      Adults 18+  Men     Women   Northeast   Midwest   South   West   
Yes   28.4%       31.7%   25.4%   25.6%       27.8%     29.7%   29.2%
No    71.6%       68.3%   74.6%   74.4%       72.2%     70.3%   70.8% 

Source: BIGresearch, CIA-May 09 

82.2% of consumers are refraining from discretionary purchases. And with a more negative financial outlook comes an even lower propensity to spend. 83.3% of Women say they have not started to spend more on discretionary items and neither have 82.6% of Northeasterners. 

Are you starting to spend more on discretionary items?     

      Adults 18+  Men     Women   Northeast   Midwest   South   West   
Yes   17.8%       19.0%   16.7%   17.4%       17.0%     18.8%   17.2%
No    82.2%       81.0%   83.3%   82.6%       83.0%     81.2%   82.8%

Source: BIGresearch, CIA-May 09

Consumers also weighed in on their confidence in the various automaker nameplates to be in business in five years. Here’s a list of the top ten based upon percent that were confident or very confident.

How confident are you that the following automakers will be in business in five years?

Confident/Very Confident (Top 10)

Toyota            85.3%
Honda             83.6%
Nissan            77.5%
Ford              72.3%
Hyundai           69.8%
Chevrolet         61.1%
Cadillac          54.1%
Lincoln/Mercury   48.8%
Jeep              46.7%
Saturn            41.2% 
-----------------------
Chrysler          29.0%

Source: BIGresearch, CIA-May 09

For additional complimentary data (including gender, income, ages and census region): http://info.bigresearch.com/.

About BIGresearch
BIGresearch is a consumer intelligence firm providing analysis of behavior in areas of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive and media. BIGresearch conducts the monthly Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey (CIA) of 8,000+ respondents and the semi-annual Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) of 15,000+ respondents. More information is available at http://www.bigresearch.com

Chrissy Wissinger
BIGresearch
(614) 846-0146
chrissy@bigresearch.com