Consumer Pulse (April 17, 2026): Spiking Gas Prices, Inflation and Deal-Hunting Conversations

Consumer sentiment recently dropped nearly 11% down to a record low of 47.6. This continues a trend that started with the conflict with Iran, and it comes on the heels of a spike in inflation to 3.3% – the highest rate since March 2024.

All of this is having a significant impact on consumer behavior – and is reflected in the conversations we’ve been tracking. Both economic chatter and worry continue to rise. In the first two weeks of April, overall economic conversations are up 4.5% vs. Q1 2026 and anxiety is up 3.8%.

That said, there are signs that consumers are willing to put in a bit more effort to find what they want – if they feel like they can get a deal.  So, there’s a frustration with shopping, but also a thread of patience – or resignation – that’s reflected in a continued focus on budgeting.

Here are some key findings from our most recent Online Anthropology research.

Key findings

Consumers are looking for savings – In previous research, we’ve seen shopping driven by three primary motivations beyond need: deal hunting, social experience and finding unique goods. Of these three, deal hunting is up 21% YoY, while social experience is down 5% and finding unique goods is down 8%.

Gas prices are driving cost-of-living concerns – Gas price conversations, while slightly down from early March, are 196% higher than they were in the first two months of 2026.

The way people discuss gas prices has also changed – Conversations are increasingly about the downstream effects of higher gas prices. Worries about food are up 42% and summer travel are up 37% – both overlapping with gas-related conversations.

Budgeting conversations remain elevated – From January to mid-April, conversations about personal budgeting are 20.1% more frequent than they were during the same period in 2025. This 14-week stretch is also the highest in our 3+ years of data – with the first week of April the highest in 6 months.

The sustained increase in budgeting conversation suggests that US consumers are price-wary and trying to mitigate their concerns. This means they are more willing to seek out better deals and hunt for quality merchandise at a discounted rate.

Diving into specific conversations – We aggregated various threads similar to a common Reddit prompt: “Name something that used to be cheap but now is annoyingly expensive.” The top results were in the “survival” categories of food and clothing, reflecting consumer concern that even traditionally inexpensive versions of necessities are trending out of reach. The top two results were:

• Fast food/soda – with 23% of total upvotes

• Used/vintage clothing – with 20% of total upvotes

Other conversations included insights like:

“It has gotten to the point where I will now spend time, so I don’t need to spend money.  If I need to look a little harder or longer, it is worth the extra money saved…Yes, time is money, but I can’t deposit minutes into my savings account.”

 

“More and more, I am finding myself trying to save money by hunting for deals, something I haven’t done in years… I don’t do Starbucks anymore.”

 

“We also hunt for deals on electronics – another category notorious for heavy discounting if you know where to look… if it takes longer to find, you are likely going to be spending less overall too.”

 

Given all of this, it’s no surprise that consumer conversations about inflation over the last four weeks are the highest they’ve been since August 2025.

Finally, while the conflict in Iran’s impact on the economy has the attention of Americans, it hasn’t fully displaced AI concerns. While down 16% from the start of March, concerns about AI’s impact on the economy are still elevated far above 2025 levels. AI-driven economic conversation at the household level is up 3.4x in the first 14 weeks of 2026 vs. 2025. These conversations are firmly grounded in job security worries, with 70% of AI conversations referencing the labor market.

What’s next?

Consumers’ concerns and their adaptive behaviors are deeply rooted in constantly shifting global events. But keeping up with the news is only the first step to understanding and engaging with their needs. By drilling into specific sectors, topics, categories and trends, brands can better connect with and serve consumers during uncertain times.

Material’s proprietary social listening solution, Online Anthropology, and other quick-turn research methods like Material Spotlight, offer fast, data-rich and insightful snapshots of the trends, topics and concerns consumers are talking about and why.

To learn how Material can help you uncover these kinds of insights and act on them in the moment, reach out today.

Methodology

These findings are based on an Online Anthropology™ analysis of 27.4 million publicly available, naturally occurring consumer messages posted between January 1, 2023 and April 14, 2026, from 5,558,781 people, about their household economic situations.

The dataset includes dozens of sub-Reddits, Facebook posts and comments, and hundreds of finance-focused forums and message boards like moneysavingexpert.com, mrmoneymustache.com, bogleheads.org, zerohedge.com, redflagdeals.com and more.