Mums are actually optimistic about the future of their own family’s quality of life, according to Asda’s new Mumdex research barometer.
This optimism is driven by mums feeling confident in their ability to manage their own household finances and reflects a “make do and mend mentality”.
While 94% of mums feel that their standard of living is lower or static compared to a year ago, mums have been quick to react as 93% have changed their lifestyles in response to the economic downturn.
Despite the squeeze mums’ overwhelming priority remains their kids. Mumdex shows that mums are allocating twice as much of their weekly budget for kids as they do for themselves or their partner as they act as a buffer zone for their kids, soaking up the negative impact of the downturn wherever possible.
The Asda Mumdex score shows that Asda mums are a net -8% pessimistic about the overall outlook for the future. This is made up of a net pessimism score of minus 60% for the outlook for the UK economy; net optimism score of 6% about their own family’s situation; net 23% for the future of their family’s quality of life, and a flat score on how they feel about the community.
The balance of these four factors shows that how mums feel about the future isn’t just based on the cash they have in their wallets – quality of life, the prospects for the UK as a whole as well and their feelings on the wider community add up to a true measure of how mums feel about their economic situation.
The Mumdex findings give Asda the genuine insight required to inform and shape future business actions that truly resonate with mums.
Asda’s chief operating officer, Judith McKenna, said: “Our very first Mumdex panel tells a tale of two halves – mums are optimistic about their own household’s quality of life, but significantly less so about the outlook for the economy overall. They’re making real behaviour changes that point to a permanent shift in how mums spend – families are running just to stand still.
“Our message to the Mumdex mums, and the millions of other Asda Mums they represent, is that we’re hearing them loud and clear; we’ll take action to make sure we’re doing the right thing for their families in 2012 – and we know they’ll tell us if we’re not.”
Source: Asda
