Emerging market (EM) consumers are confident about economic growth, highly optimistic about their personal prosperity, and have clear aspirations for spending their newly created wealth, according to findings in a new independent study commissioned by Standard Chartered.
The study of 5,000 affluent and emerging affluent consumers across five of Standard Chartered’s key markets – Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya – offers new insight into the aspirations of these consumers, including their appetite to travel, invest in a new car, grow their wealth and buy luxury goods.
The study reveals big differences in the background and employment status of emerging market middle-class consumers. Indonesians and Indians tend to work for a local company, while the vast majority of African middle classes are self-employed. While 77 percent of Indians have a university or post-graduate qualification, 23 percent of Kenyans did not attend high school.
Emerging market consumers have a confident outlook, with a majority of Indians, Indonesians and Nigerians expecting economic growth in their markets to continue, and a majority of consumers in all five countries (between 54% and 91%) expecting their personal financial position to improve in the next five years. As their wealth grows, they expect their spending priorities to change considerably.
Anticipated spending in the next five years includes:Buying a new vehicle: across all five countries, more people plan to buy a new car or motorcycle – at least seven in ten Indonesians, Indians, Nigerians and Ghanaians plan to splash out. More people also plan to buy at the luxury end of the market, especially Indians, Nigerians and Ghanaians.
Others are: Exploring the world: across Indonesia, India, Nigeria and Ghana, at least around 50 percent of consumers plan to take more holidays abroad and/or embark on more business travel, and Europe is seen as a top three travel destination; Buying luxury items: there is mixed appetite for luxury goods. Across all five countries, high-end tech goods are expected to be very popular. Ghanaians and Nigerians demonstrate the highest appetite for luxury clothing – demand to buy designer clothing, accessories and/or footwear is expected to more than double in the next five years (compared to the previous five years), among others.
