Roy Morgan Update November 5, 2025: Consumer Confidence down, more Australians prefer discount online stores

In this week's Market Research Update, we present the latest data on Consumer Confidence, Retailers with Low Prices and Credit Card Debts.

Welcome to the Roy Morgan Weekly update.

Last week ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence dropped 1.3 points to 84.5.

All interviewing was undertaken before Melbourne Cup Day and the Reserve Bank’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged.

The result coincided with bad news on the economic front with the ABS reporting a higher-than-expected inflation reading for the September quarter of 3.2% - a big jump from 2.1% for June.

This high inflation reading immediately took interest rate cuts off the table and in the same week, ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence dropped 1.3 points to 84.5.

Driving the fall was less confidence about personal financial situations and the Australian economy over the next year.

Hardly surprising given it is now likely there will be no more interest rate cuts for the foreseeable future.

The jump in official ABS Inflation also coincided with a sharp rise in the weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan Inflation Expectations which were up 0.4% to 5.2%.

So, Australians are now expecting annual inflation of 5.2% each year over the next two years.

And now to some important Roy Morgan Research on the retailing industry – on the eve of the “Peak” Christmas Season.

Online retailers are leading Australia’s low-price perception shift, with cheap becoming even cheaper

Kmart and Big W continue to lead on low-price perception; 58% and 45% of Australians respectively associate these brands with the statement “has low prices”.

However, over the past few years most traditional discount retailers have seen declines while Amazon, Temu, and Shein have recorded gains.

• The Reject Shop: down 18% points to 40% since 2020.
• Big W: down 10% points to 45%
• Target: down 7% points to 27%.
• In contrast, Amazon is up 7% points to 29% in the same period.

The entry and rapid growth of Temu and Shein have accelerated this change. Since October 2024:

•       Temu’s “low price” association has risen 7% points to 41%, surpassing The Reject Shop

• Shein has risen 4% points to 27% over the last year and is now sitting on par with Bunnings & Target.

Now to the Australian credit-card market.

Over one-in-three Australian credit card holders rely on credit to make ends meet

Australian credit card holders have higher incomes than non-credit card holders – their median annual personal income is over $20,000 higher.

Nevertheless, 36% of credit card holders leave credit card debt unpaid at the end of each month which equates to an estimated 2.44 million Australians, or 11% of Australian adults.

Among those who don’t pay off their credit card each month, the median amount owed is $1,037.

Those with greater ongoing living expenses tend to owe more.

E.g. more owed by mortgage payers ($1,342) and renters ($911) than by those owning their home outright ($787).

Importantly, an estimated 423,000 Australians leave an unpaid credit card debt each month of over $5,000. This equates to 2% of the Australian adults and 6% of Australian credit card holders.

For more information about Australian credit card holders view the full detailed release on the Roy Morgan website.

Now, looking across the Tasman to the political situation in New Zealand – and the National-led Government has had a boost in October, the governing National holds a slight lead on 32%, just ahead of Labour on 30.5%, both little changed on a month ago.

However, the pattern of support for the other parties has given the National-led Government a slight edge.

The National-led Government is up 1% to 49.5% including support for National on 32%, NZ First on 9.5% and ACT on 8%.

Importantly, this is the first time NZ First has been ahead of ACT since the last New Zealand Election.

In contrast, support for the Labour-led Parliamentary Opposition is down 2.5% to 45% including Labour on 30.5%, the Greens on 12% and the Maori Party falling to just 2.5%.

If these Roy Morgan results were repeated at next year’s election, the National-led Government would be re-elected with 63 seats compared to 57 seats for the Parliamentary Opposition.

The improved result for the National-led Government came after the early October decision of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to cut interest rates by 0.5% to 2.5% – the eighth cut to interest rates in just over a year.

Lower interest rates are clearly beneficial to the Government, although the political situation in New Zealand remains very close a year before the election.