A March, 2010 online survey from The Nielsen Company of more than 27,000 consumers in 55 markets from Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America and the Middle East/Africa (consisting of countries from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and South Africa) reveals that spending habits have definitely changed and mat reflect a new ongoing frugality. Of course, given the recession this is hardly earth-shattering but what this study uniquely shows is that these changes are now universally underway. Every country and consumer has been impacted and that has us all using a number of tactics for making our money work harder.
Nielsen makes a bold stand stating, "Regardless, one thing remains clear: habits picked up during the recession are likely to survive even after economic recovery is in full-swing." This means marketers must ensure that their offer, pricing, messaging, guarantees, and other value associations meet the new reality. The study shows that there has been a shift towards private label products along with these other tactics for saving money:
Interestingly, one in ten of respondents reported no change in their spending habits which may aid luxury brands. It will be very interesting to see if luxury returns to a more elitist segment. In the past twenty years we have seen a democratization of luxury which, in essence, is ironic so that designer items, spa treatments, high-end vehicles, exotic vacations, and the like were more readily available to the masses. This is one of the harshest realities for many consumers - not all can afford to do or own everything and this is as much a cultural shift as it is an economic.
It reminds me of a CNN report at the height of the crisis on a couple from Seattle whose income was collectively below US$100,000 but owned/mortgaged a US$800,000 home and stated other significant (unrealistic) economic expectations for how they would live. It seems astonishing now but the crisis we are still grappling with stems from that historic conflict of wants versus needs. Consumers are in a new economic reality and marketers must continue to adjust to it. However, as DDB featured in its two Yellow Papers on the impact of the recession, every economy brings opportunity but that can only be achieved with a deep connection and understanding of the consumer.
Read the full Nielsen article here, http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/global-consumer-strategies-for-saving-money/.
Jeff Swystun
Chief Communications Officer
DDB Worldwide
Posted on September 14, 2010 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
This page contains all entries posted to DDB Strategy in September 2010. They are listed from oldest to newest.
August 2010 is the previous archive.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
RSS Feed