Consumer optimism in Germany for the month of August is the best it has been for a number of years according to findings by research company, Gfk.

An improvement of more than four points between July and August was discovered as part of Gfk Consumer Climate study for Germany. The indicator value actually increased by 3.7 points to its current 44.4 points.

Nina Purtscher, head of press relations at German loyalty operator, Payback,  noted how business had gained some momentum in the months leading up to August, insisting that couponing and multichannel marketing is prospering.

“In general, (digital) couponing and Payback has been more successful than ever during the last few months,” Purtscher said. “The interest in couponing and multichannel marketing can rather be seen as a long term trend.”

Record High

Consumers’ willingness to buy hit similar heights in 2006. This record high was said by Gfk to be driven by the advanced purchasing effect brought about by the impending hike in value-added tax at the time.

Qipu, a cashback company that Quidco’s founders have invested in, agreed with Gfk’s own appraisal of the German market. The UK company’s digital marketing manager, Mike Vakulenko, came to the conclusion after comparing the site’s traffic with purchase volume.

“Our growth is pretty significant this year, but I believe it is not only because of increased demand on the market, our brand became popular, we made more promos and had TV impact also. But we also can feel the trend,” Vakulenko said.

“Regarding the traffic, it did not increase so significantly, so yeah it just proves that people buy more stuff.”

Low interest rate levels and the recent bump in the country’s inflation rate have only helped fuel the appeal among Germany’s consumers to invest their earnings in major purchases such as real estate.

Income Expectations Drop Fuels Voucher Use

On the flipside, income expectations fell by 5.6 points in August to 37.2 points. Gfk suggests that one reason for this could be down to a slightly less optimistic economic outlook from consumers.

Voucher usage is always going to be a bi-product of any uneasiness German consumers may have about their finances and, according to Daniel Engelbarts, founder and chief executive officer of Sparwelt.de, it is a trend he has noticed through monitoring keywords.

“We are talking about around 240 million queries per year,” Engelbarts revealed. “Just for the keyword ‘voucher’ there are about 10 million queries per month in Germany.”

“The consumer´s unbowed desire for new consumer goods combined with their restricted financial resources are the reasons for the vast rise of interest in free voucher codes.”