There’s a lot of uncertainty among consumers and businesses heading into 2024. As cleanly as I can put it:
Consumer side - 1) if you’ve been let go, it’s statistically been harder to find work as more companies are putting “phantom job listings” ie job listings that are still out but the bar is super high (companies have realized job listings has a signal effect of their “health” and no one wants to seem like they’re in a shit position) and 2) if you have your job, you likely are nervous that you’ll be let go OR promotions / pay bumps are not given as regularly. Either way, you’re uncertain what 2024 looks like, look at your spending, and try to reel and hunker down.
Business side - 1) interest rates are higher than the last 10 years so more expensive to borrow, which means less spending, 2) execs don’t know if we’ve seen the worst or if it’ll get worse, so they’re on “hold mode” and not aggressively investing in sales & marketing and hiring for fear of being caught overspending in a recession, and 3) your customers are other business and consumers - both are nervous (see above) so they’re unlikely to a) buy your product or b) renew / increase purchases.
There’s so much nuance here and I’m not an economist so please take this with a grain of salt.
Tldr - going into 2024, there’s little confidence / certainty, which means spending has halted to a trickle. Until we know where we are in the cycle eg will things get better or worse, consumer spending will continue to slow down.
There’s a lot of uncertainty among consumers and businesses heading into 2024. As cleanly as I can put it:
Consumer side - 1) if you’ve been let go, it’s statistically been harder to find work as more companies are putting “phantom job listings” ie job listings that are still out but the bar is super high (companies have realized job listings has a signal effect of their “health” and no one wants to seem like they’re in a shit position) and 2) if you have your job, you likely are nervous that you’ll be let go OR promotions / pay bumps are not given as regularly. Either way, you’re uncertain what 2024 looks like, look at your spending, and try to reel and hunker down.
Business side - 1) interest rates are higher than the last 10 years so more expensive to borrow, which means less spending, 2) execs don’t know if we’ve seen the worst or if it’ll get worse, so they’re on “hold mode” and not aggressively investing in sales & marketing and hiring for fear of being caught overspending in a recession, and 3) your customers are other business and consumers - both are nervous (see above) so they’re unlikely to a) buy your product or b) renew / increase purchases.
There’s so much nuance here and I’m not an economist so please take this with a grain of salt.
Tldr - going into 2024, there’s little confidence / certainty, which means spending has halted to a trickle. Until we know where we are in the cycle eg will things get better or worse, consumer spending will continue to slow down.