This week, CivicScience launched a new weekly tracking report examining the impact of rising fuel prices on current and future consumer spending across a number of key retail and experiential categories, such as restaurant, travel, apparel, grocery, and more. The full, real-time data and analysis is available to all CivicScience customers. 

One of the more interesting initial findings is the high rate of U.S. workers who expect to continue working remotely to avoid rising prices at the pump.

Data show that in light of rising gas prices, 22% of U.S. adult commuters say they will work from home more often to limit the amount of driving they have to do.

This isn’t just a decision by individuals with lower HH incomes looking to save: we observe this across income levels, but more so in the lowest (under $35k) and the highest ($125k+) brackets, respectively. In fact, those with possibly the most disposable income are the most likely to stay home.

With roughly a quarter of the commuting population reporting they’ll work from home due to increasing gas prices, that’s a lot of lost sales for food, beverage, and other consumer goods that are purchased during commutes or the workday.

Further CivicScience data point to this impacting QSR and fast casual chains the most, and the potential for mom and pop restaurants to feel a hit as well. 

This data is just a snippet of what we offer CivicScience clients. As quickly as the world is changing, we’re tracking consumer response in real-time. Learn more about what we do.