Stagnation unlocked, so now what?

Daily Data: Cautious consumers get more cautious as treading water becomes less fun

In today’s dispatch:

• hottest new consumer finance app

• cautious consumerism, even more cautioustier

• ‘Stagnation’ unlocked

• Stagnant new normal, or is the giddyup just getting started?

• There is, of course, an oldie, but goody

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Stagnation unlocked, so now what?

Fastest growing app

Do you want to know what the fastest growing consumer finance app is?

It’s a little something called “Credit Genie: Get Cash Advance”

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Credit Genie doubled its Monthly Active Users in just one month, from 2M to 4M.¹

That’s not bad.

What does Credit Genie do?

Well, it offers the possibility of an $100 of cash advance, interest fee.

Oh, and something about “taking control of your finances.”

OK, so $100 interest-free loans are suddenly all the rage. That’s probably because the Almighty Consumer is so resilient, amiright?

Lol, no.

I mean, let’s be clear, we’re talking 2M MAUs in a very noisy dataset, so this isn’t a high signal observation in any direction.

But, it’s hard not to notice the prevalence of “credit building” apps gaining popularity, and it’s no surprise that the app offering $100 is the most compelling.

Cautious consumerism, even more cautioustier

Look, we know that there is a small number of lower income consumers that is under increasing financial stress.

Consumers, in general, have been cautious for a while now, and they are still cautious. Not stressed, but not excited either.

Yesterday’s census estimates of retail sales underwhelmed ever so slightly, but the reality is that they’ve been pretty flat for a while now: