Saudi Arabia ranked fifth in Credit Suisse’s consumer confidence scorecard, with the kingdom having the highest market penetration which indicated that market opportunity lies in the trading up of goods.

The fifth annual Emerging Consumer Survey published by Credit Suisse Research Institute, said the mid-table ranking was the result of a set of mixed responses from Saudi Arabian consumers, reflective of the wider socioeconomic imbalances present in a population with around 30 per cent immigrants.

The highest income earners were most optimistic about the state of their personal finances, the survey said.

This group has been a net 15 per cent to 20 per cent more optimistic than the lowest income earners for three consecutive surveys going back to the 2012 survey data.

A slight jump was seen in the expectations of the lowest earners in society, with a net 24 per cent of those earning less than SR5,000 ($1,331) per month expecting their personal finances to improve over a six month period. It can be attributed to the Ministry of Labour’s initiative from early 2014 to raise the minimum wage.

The market penetration in Saudi Arabia across the board was once again the highest in the survey, with above 90 per cent penetration in items such as computers, cars and smartphones.

The survey was a detailed study profiling consumer sentiment and its drivers across the 9emerging world. It provided a timely insight regarding consumer sentiment and future consumption patterns at a time when emerging economies are under a spotlight of concern with growth rates slowing and the prevailing commodity price and foreign exchange volatility posing new challenges.  

Credit Suisse partnered with global market research firm Nielsen to conduct nearly 16,000 face-to-face interviews with consumers across nine economies, including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey.

It benchmarks consumer behaviour across these countries in a consistent and detailed manner; posing approximately 100 questions to help establish a detailed profile of consumers’ spending habits, future intentions, and the factors that influence them.

Stefano Natella, global co-head Securities and Analytics Research at Credit Suisse, said: “Our survey provides a unique and detailed analysis of consumer sentiment in the emerging world. While many are actively scrutinising the macro outlook for emerging markets amidst the current volatility, the granular bottom-up analysis in our survey highlights how far from uniform consumer sentiment is.

“Differentiation not generalisation is key for both companies and investors. The analysis delivered in this report and its related proprietary database underlines the ambition of the Credit Suisse Research Institute to provide our clients unique insights to assist their investment and corporate strategies.”

Giles Keating, Credit Suisse’s global head of Research for Private Banking and Wealth Management, said: “The survey shows the contrasting impact of the oil price collapse on Emerging Markets. Consumer sentiment in Russia and key Latin American economies is under pressure, in contrast to India where the consumer looks robust, helped by reforms. Overall, structural investment opportunities in these economies have not disappeared, but nor have their vulnerabilities.”

The report analysed which of these economies and consumers are most exposed to the current commodity and currency volatility. India, Turkey and China are less directly exposed versus Russia, Latin America and South Africa.

The key themes in the survey were e-commerce and the emerging consumer; travel and leisure and the emerging consumer; autos and the emerging consumer; healthcare and the emerging consumer; and brands and the emerging consumer. - TradeArabia News Service