Rising Consumer Confidence for Tech Spending a Positive Sign for Holidays, Says CTA

Consumer confidence about tech spending moved 4.1 point ahead in July, said CTA’s Tuesday Index of Consumer Technology Expectations. The index reached 91.6, its highest reading for tech spending since November, said CTA in a news release. CTA's Index of Consumer Expectations, which measures overall consumer sentiment about the U.S. economy, grew 0.7 points in July to reach 172, said CTA. “That tech spending sentiment is at its highest level in more than 18 months suggests strength ahead of the second half of the year,” said Shawn DuBravac, CTA chief economist. DuBravac pointed to summer promotions that are building “interest and momentum” for back-to-school shopping, saying they likely contributed to a second consecutive month of rising confidence in tech spending. An Ebates survey, meanwhile, said technology ranked fourth among items on consumers’ back-to-school shopping lists, said the Rakuten subsidiary in a news release Tuesday. The survey of 1,024 U.S. adults and 501 teens showed 6 percent named technology as the top category for back-to-school shopping, behind school supplies (37 percent), clothing essentials (32 percent) and stylish name-brand clothing (22 percent). Backpacks rounded out the list at 3 percent, it said. The CTA study was conducted using two probability samples: randomly selected landline telephone numbers and randomly selected mobile numbers. The combined sample consists of 1,012 adults (18 and older) living in the continental U.S.