Retailers suffer, as consumers refuse credit
New requests for personal loans and credit cards have undergone a noticeable downturn since the start of the New Year, as a response to current economic conditions.
A recent study has revealed that the number of credit hungry consumers within the UK has dropped by almost 20% in the last 6 months, representing the largest credit consumption decline within the past 6 years.
Consumers within the south of the country appear to represent one of the only geographic hotspots where the negative effects of the credit crunch are less of a deterrent. However, it has also been discovered that the same set of consumers are also the most likely to require debt help, with new cases of insolvency at their densest.
It has been noted that businesses operating within numerous different sectors of the retail market will be worst affected by this trend in 2008. Consumers are less willing to purchase items via a credit facility, meaning that many are simply going without that new leather sofa or flat screen TV. For businesses that rely on “attractive” credit facilities as a means to boost stock turnover and oust the competition, the situation may prove to be testing at best.
