Investors, manufacturers, retailers, banks, public opinion researchers and government agencies use various assessments of consumer confidence in planning their actions.
For example, if manufacturers anticipate consumers will reduce retail purchases, especially for expensive and durable goods, they will cut down their inventories in advance and may delay investing in new projects and facilities.
Similarly, if banks expect consumers to decrease their spending, they will prepare for the reduction in lending activities, such as mortgage applications and credit card use.
On the other hand, if consumer confidence is improving, people are expected to increase their purchases of goods and services.
Those surveyed are asked to give their views about their households' current and expected financial positions and the short-term employment outlook.
They are also asked to assess whether now is a good or a bad time to make a major purchase such as a house, car or other big-ticket items.
The CCI is designed to provide reliable insights into the direction of the Indian national and regional economies.
Released once a month, the index is computed from the results of a monthly survey of 4,000 consumers in 18 cities across India.The Zyfin (formerly known as BluFin) Consumer Confidence Index was developed by a team of financial economists and statisticians led by Dr. Sam Thomas, Ph.D., Director of Research and Development at BluFin.
Dr Thomas is also Professor of Banking and Finance at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
The Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) based its calculation on the methodology of Michigan and the USA Conference Board.
The CCI is built up from a monthly survey of opinion with implementing standardized telephone questionnaire to a representative sample of the population resident in Spain of 1000 individuals over 16 years.
The CCI is designed to assess the overall confidence, relative financial health and spending power of the US average consumer.
[6] The Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) is based on the monthly telephone survey of the US household data.
The survey began in December 1985 by the polling firm Langer Research Associates and was originally known as "The ABC News Consumer Comfort Index" before Bloomberg licensed the rights in 2011.
[8] The Index is based on consumers' ratings of the economy, the buying climate, and personal finances.
One question asks Americans to evaluate current economic conditions; the other measures their perceptions of whether the economy is getting better or getting worse.
Gallup reports results of the Economic Confidence Index on Gallup.com on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis.
Gallup calculates the Economic Confidence Index by adding the percentage of people rating current economic conditions (["excellent" + "good"] minus "poor") to the percentage saying the economy is ("getting better" minus "getting worse"), and then dividing that sum by two.
The Index is developed based on consumers' confidence in the job market, status of their personal finances and readiness to spend.
Each month the survey tracks changes in personal finance, general economic situation, inflation, unemployment, current purchasing climate, consumer spending and saving.