Consumer Optimism Tracker
The weekly read on UK consumer optimism –
how Britain feels, who feels it, why, and what brands should do next.
11 Sep 2026Published 26 Oct 2026Konfidant Week 36Read time: 2 min
UK Consumer Optimism at +30 as the we look to reset for September
The news is breaking through and we’re back in admin land – our plans are sticking better if we have someone else to follow-through with.
Net optimism, four-week rolling · 10 Sep 2021 to 11 Sep 2026
Four-week headline +30 · 3 points higher than last year
Latest weekly signal +30 · 3 points higher than last year
Four-week headline +30
3 points higher than last year
What's changing
Mood | September hits – heavy after an ‘easy’ summer |
News | Seeping in – we’re deciding to look after us first and worry later |
Money | Record reassessing – no one is coming to help |
AI | Becoming our PA – helping us think of solutions |
Follow-through | Ideas outrun action – apps can’t hold us to account |
Health and fitness | People helps us stick to it – existing commitments beat willpower |
Summer is ending and real life is back
Autumn means that we’re back to routine and admin-land after a summer of sunshine, and life feels on edge for 36% of us – the highest since the Iran war. The world is also seeping in no matter how much we try and stop it, as more of us keeping up to date on Instagram and TikTok. 65% of us are now wanting to put our lives first and the world outside second.
This is the season of the reset, and the proportion of us who are reassessing life right now is up 6 points from last year; everything is competing for the same time, money and headspace, so financial nervousness continues. AI is the new PA to help us with the reset – 28% of us have used GenAI in the last 4 weeks, up from 21% last year, with 35–44-year-olds making the biggest jump at 11 points.
There is a catch – AI can draft the reset but can’t enact it, and although we feel like we have plenty of ideas to solve our problems, we’re struggling to actively solve them. We’re finding that having other people to help us with our goals helps, with gym and fitness classes on the up versus the average, whereas solo fitness goals such as going for walks and maintaining a balanced diet are down.
“A new season starts and the country wants to reset – brands can help by giving them incentive to follow through on plans they’ve already made.”
Alison Bainbridge, Co-Founder, Konfidant
Brand actions: help us get set while it's mild, cocoon when the cold comes
A heavy reset and dwindling energy will make it harder for us to follow through – help us hold on to momentum:
- Keep the tone light – the last thing we want is gloom
- Foster community – the plans with others are the ones that stick
- Upkeep, not upgrades – small moves over big overhauls
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=9,188. Fieldwork: 09 Sep 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.
- History
- Weekly since March 2020.
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