Consumer confidence in Alberta soars while the rest of Canada flounders

TORONTO, Aug. 1, 2012 /CNW/ - Consumer Confidence in Alberta is soaring compared to the rest of the western provinces, and Canada as a whole, according to a recent report published by TNS.  The Canadian Consumer Confidence Index saw a roller-coaster of sorts in the past quarter. After a very promising start to 2012 (98.6 points in January), the Index slid down to 95.1 the following month where it held relatively steady until May, where it hit a ten-month high of 98.8 points. Unfortunately, consumers' confidence quickly subsided as the Index ended the quarter down slightly at 96.4 points.

"The real story is the emergence we're seeing of two different Canadian consumers - Albertans and the rest of us. Albertans' confidence skyrocketed in Q2, leaving the rest of Canada behind in its hot, dry dust", explained Norman Baillie-David, Senior Vice President of TNS in Canada and Director of the Marketing and Social research firm's monthly tracking study.

Canadian consumers are still more confident than our American counterparts. The U.S. Consumer Confidence Index experienced moderate decreases every month this quarter. Although starting at a promising 70.2, the index fell to 62.0 at the end of the quarter which is still significantly lower than Canada.

Detailed data, charts and commentary on National indices including the present situation index, expectations index and buy index, US indices and Canadian regional indices is directly available to you in our Q2 Trends report at: http://tnscanada.ca/news/TRENDS-Q2-2012.pdf.

Trends is released quarterly and provides a comparison between Canadian and U.S. consumer confidence, as well as a breakdown of consumer confidence by Canadian region.

About TNS and Kantar

TNS (formerly known as TNS Canadian Facts) is the Canadian arm of TNS Global. TNS advises clients on specific growth strategies around new market entry, innovation, brand switching and stakeholder management, based on long-established expertise and market-leading solutions. With a presence in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the world's consumers than anyone else and understands individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of the world.

TNS is part of Kantar, one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy groups.

Please visit www.tnsglobal.com for more information. 

Kantar is one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy groups. By uniting the diverse talents of its 13 specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and inspirational insights for the global business community. Its 28,500 employees work across 100 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. 

For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com

SOURCE: TNS

If you would like to schedule an interview to discuss these results or have any questions please contact:If you would like to schedule an interview to discuss these results or have any questions please contact:

Alisa Trunova
Marketing & Public Relations Coordinator
[phone] (ext.390)
[email protected]
www.tnscanada.ca