1. The Covid-19 pandemic is leading us to make downward revisions to our total household spending across numerous markets. 2. Therefore, with consumer sentiment weakening and spending slowing or decreasing y-o-y (except in the priority purchase segments such as food and health) consumer-facing companies and retailers will be some of the industry segments worst hit by the virus’ impact. 3. We highlight three strategies retailers and consumer-facing companies can employ to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic in order to mitigate the impact on sales and improve brand equity: shifting to or expanding their e-commerce offering, shifting production lines, and catering to the elderly. initiatives that can impact the consumer sector. We assess the situations in the markets we cover and make revisions to our 2020 forecasts if necessary. Country revisions to date include the UK, where we have revised real household spending down, to expand by just 0.2% in 2020, from a previous growth projection of 3.1%, real household spending growth for the US (from a 2020 pre-Covid-19 2.3% to 1%), China (from 2020 pre-Covid-19 7.2% to 1.7%), and Germany (from 2020 pre-Covid-19 1.4% to 0.5%). We highlight that a growing number of countries (incl. France and the UK) have introduced lockdowns, where most retail stores (with the exception of grocery retailers and pharmacies) are ordered to remain shut and the movement of consumers is restricted. Other countries do not have full lockdowns in place, in which governments are discouraging consumers from leaving their homes for anything else, but essential purchases, and so this will weigh on the demand outlook for multiple retail segments.
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