Consumer Optimism Tracker
The weekly read on UK consumer optimism –
how Britain feels, who feels it, why, and what brands should do next.
23 Oct 2026Konfidant Week 42Read time: 2 min
UK Consumer Optimism dips to +23 as Autumn is really here
Optimism has dropped to its lowest point since mid-May as the cold, bugs and bills are all here at once.
Net optimism, four-week rolling · 29 Oct 2021 to 23 Oct 2026
Four-week headline +23 · 2 points lower than last year
Latest weekly signal +20 · 7 points lower than last year
Four-week headline +23
2 points lower than last year
What's changing
Mood | Falling – optimism at its lowest since mid-May |
Costs | Limited – heating rationed and car journeys avoided |
Budget | Who will pay? – tax the rich, but don’t scare them off |
Mid-life | Squeezed hardest – money and jobs pile on pressure with no help coming |
Spending | Bargain hunting – second-hand and staying in to save |
Christmas | Holding off – wait until what we have is clearer |
We’re bracing for impact – optimism falls for the fourth week in a row
Everything feels like it’s hitting all at once – a jump in cold weather means that now 64% of us have had the heating on in the last two weeks, 1 in 4 of us have felt poorly, and money worries are only on the rise. Petrol costs are a particular problem, with the price deterring travel up 10 points on the three-year average, and 68% of us are trying to find ways to make the food budget go further.
We’re living sensibly but we feel like we’re spending a lot, and it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot to do to fix it as the problems feel too big, too global. Upper middle-income families are feeling the crunch the most, as net optimism is down by an average 14 points on last year for households in the £50-100k range – they earn too much to qualify for help and can feel the job market turning on them.
Shopping habits are reflecting these money fears – we’re looking second hand for bargains, searches for discounts have reached a high for this year at 23%, and a typical week has us staying in more across the board. The Budget is coming next week and we’re holding off on our Christmas shopping until we know where we’re going to land.
“We’re really feeling the squeeze from rising costs and not feeling like we’re getting value for money. As our money is pulled in all directions, make every purchase feel like it’s worth it.”
Alison Bainbridge, Co-Founder, Konfidant
Brand actions: help us hunker down, brighten up dark days and get sorted
The dark nights are in and half-term is here, but we’re keeping it low-key:
- Keep half-term and Halloween cheap, not cheerless – give us a way to escape without breaking the bank
- Hold our hand after the Budget – what changes, when and what to do now
- Show us a bigger Christmas for less - that it's OK to focus on ourselves to keep the magic going
About the data
- The measure
- Every week we ask around 2,000 people across the UK how optimistic they feel about life – not only about money. Consumer Optimism subtracts the share who feel pessimistic from the share who feel optimistic. Alongside the survey we follow a community of 50 UK households, which is where the why comes from. The headline is a four-week rolling score, so one noisy week can't move the story.
- Sample and method
- Around 2,000 UK adults aged 18+, surveyed online and weighted by age, gender, region and social grade.
- Current wave
- n=9,087. Fieldwork: 21 Oct 2026.
- Question
- “Please click below to indicate how optimistic you are feeling about life in general at the moment.” The question scale includes the following responses: Very optimistic (Optimistic) Quite optimistic (Optimistic) Neither optimistic nor pessimistic (Neutral) Quite pessimistic (Pessimistic) Very pessimistic (Pessimistic) The Optimism net score is calculated as percentage optimistic minus percentage pessimistic.
- Headline score
- Four-week rolling average, around 8,000 interviews. Percentage-point change against the same four weeks last year.
- Turnaround
- Published within 72 hours of fieldwork closing.
- History
- Weekly since March 2020.
Previous Consumer Optimism articles
See allGet ahead of the competition
Keep track of how consumer changes will impact your business with the Konfidant platform
Try for free
Your unfair advantage, every Monday
Join our newsletter for a sharp take on what Britain’s really feeling, why it matters and what to do about it. Grounded in our weekly research with 2,000 people.