DMV-ifo Marketing Barometer August 2020

Less volatility compared to previous months.

After the self-assessment of the German marketing industry has been marked by unprecedented volatility in the past six months of crisis, the indicators of the DMV-ifo Marketing Barometer in August for the first time change only slightly compared to July. While the assessment of the current business climate and the business situation in the marketing industry improved slightly compared to the previous month, the indicator of business expectations declined slightly. Compared to the previous month's changes, however, these movements are much less pronounced.

In August, the Marketing Business Climate Index rises by 0.6 percentage points to 83.4 points, thus remaining well below the pre-crisis level of around 90 points. The ifo Business Climate Index, the benchmark for the overall economy, recovered somewhat more strongly in the current month, rising by 2.2 points to a value of 92.6 points. In marketing terms, the assessment of the business situation in August rises to 76.0 points, up 2.4 points, with this indicator showing by far the lowest value of the three main indicators. Business expectations developed slightly negatively, dropping by 1.6 points to an index value of 91.4 at an approximate pre-crisis level. Compared to the previous month, the small range of changes is particularly striking. After turbulent months of crisis with very different assessments, the assessment of German marketers remains relatively constant. The order backlog also changed only moderately compared to the first half of the year, falling to a balance of -46.2 (-3.7 points). However, expectations for the number of employees in the marketing sector deteriorated much more sharply, dropping considerably in August to a value of -14.1 (-14.2 points). In contrast, the sales expectations, which are positive for the first time since the beginning of the crisis with a balance value of 13.6 points (+19.8 points), are developing in the opposite direction. Price expectations are also changing in an equally positive direction, after strong growth in July, and are again significantly higher on balance than in the previous month at 17.2 (+11.3 points).

The complete analysis including charts can be found here. (only available in German)

Link to past evaluations.