The emerging economies in the Asia Pacific region are constantly promoting the diversified development of European retailing. Chinese consumers are still the leading force, but the overall trend is slowing. Russian consumer spending is also slowing down.
The latest data from the Planet Shopper Index (PSI) show that the U.S. economy continues to be depressed, but Americans traveling abroad are boosting retail market growth in Europe.
On the whole, consumers in developed countries are still the main tourist consumption in Europe, while the United States, Singapore and Canada are all on the rise. In the second quarter of this year, U.S. consumers became the fastest growing segment of retail sales in Europe under the influence of the stronger U.S. dollar.
Growth in consumer spending in emerging economies compensated for the decline in major luxury goods markets. Chinese consumers are still the leading force, but the overall trend is slowing. Russian consumer spending is also slowing. Russia grew in the first quarter, but it was the worst in the second quarter. Nevertheless, benefiting from the positive growth of GDP in Russia, the inflation adjusted wage growth has been 3.5% since the beginning of this year, and it is still one of the three largest countries in the world with the highest tax-free consumption.
Driven by consumers in the United States and the pan-Asia Pacific region, the average score of the latest PSI data reached 98. The PSI is a composite index that ranks 25 of Europe's most active overseas shopping countries by combining tax-free payments, retail sales and economic data.
Planet pointed out that compared with the first quarter, Thailand's PSI score increased by 7 points, Philippines increased by 4 points, and Indonesia increased by 3 points. In the Asia Pacific emerging economies, India has the fastest growth and the PSI score has increased by 8 points.