Information. Insight.
Advantage. |
Monthly
Trend Report
August, 2010
Focus: Post-Recession
Trends | |
As a nation,
we are officially in a period of post-recession,
though a large percentage of the population might
argue otherwise. Consumers who have survived or
managed to bounce back are getting more confident
about spending. Having felt deprived by their
adaptive lifestyles, they are returning to little
luxuries - whether creating an illusion of wealth
with well-crafted fakes or indulging in the real
thing. That's not to say we've returned to the
days of living beyond our means and irreparable
debt.
The recession has forced
consumers to step back and gain a new perspective
on spending. They've learned that private labels
can be as good and sometimes better than national
brands. No longer does cheap equate with inferior
nor does expensive automatically mean quality.
Perhaps the biggest lesson consumers have taken
away from the recession is an ability to discern
real value, independent of price. Do your products
or services have value propositions that speak to
the highest emotional motivation of your
customers? ISG can help you find out.
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How consumers rewrote the old recessionary
rules
Source:
CNNMoney.com
 The conventional wisdom about
consumers and recessions goes something like this:
when the economy stinks, people trade down -- or
they splurge on trivial indulgences like lipstick
or booze. They're more likely to succumb to their
vices -- depression, after all, is rampant during
economic downturns -- propping up the alcohol,
gambling, and candy industries.
As it turns out, the conventional wisdom is
mostly
bunk.
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CEA:
in tough economy, CE holding its
own
Source:
twice.com
The
post-recession macroeconomic recovery is
proceeding at a glacial pace, according to
Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) chief
economist Shawn DuBravac, but consumer spending on
CE products remains relatively strong compared
with other sectors.
read
more |
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After the recession: packaged goods consumer
behavior trends Source:
webpackaging.com
As the U.S.
economy emerges from the Great Recession, Consumer
Packaged Goods (CPG) companies are adjusting to a
transformed consumer landscape. Consumer buying
power is still under pressure, and consumers are
likely to continue looking for bargains and living
more frugally.
In this white paper,
Weatherchem, a Cleveland-based manufacturer of
specialty packaging, offers its analysis and
commentary on some of the emerging trends in
post-recession consumer behavior and how these
trends may impact packaging and CPG brand image in
the
future.
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The new abnormal
Americans are broke and
depressed-and also swilling $3 lattes and waiting
in line for iPhones. Welcome to the schizophrenic
economy
Source:
businessweek.com
It used to be that
someone like Ralph Ronzio could be fairly certain
of the outcome when spending a few hundred
thousand dollars on real estate. Housing prices
were headed in only one direction. You could surf
the boom and borrow against your home equity to
pay for all manner of splurges-a vacation, a
flat-screen TV, the latest Apple gadget. It may
have looked like a lot of debt on paper, but
considering that housing prices nearly doubled
from 1999 to 2006, there was always an escape
hatch: Sell your house and make enough money to
pay it all back.
That was the old
normal. Last year, Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO,
the influential bond shop, declared a "new
normal," a global realignment in which the U.S.
consumer, no longer a hungry monster, became
cautious and subdued.
The current circumstances
might be better described as the new abnormal, in
which no one knows anything.
.
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Engaging employees post-recession: It starts
with good
leadership Source: HR
Management
 Layoffs, hiring freezes,
increased responsibilities, reduced or flat pay,
lack of bonuses, reduction in learning and
development opportunities and fewer perks. Ah, the
joys of being a survivor in an organization. But
hey, they're just happy to have a job, right?
Well, yes, temporarily.
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World economic recovery driven by global
imbalances Source:
washingtonpost.com
The
catastrophic economic downturn that began two
years ago was supposed to shake up the global
economy, ending an era in which Americans consumed
too much and saved and exported too
little.
But the
recovery is being driven by a return to the very
global imbalances that were a major cause of the
crisis. Americans' savings rates have fallen over
the past year, imports are rising faster than
exports, and countries around the world are again
turning to Americans to be the consumers of last
resort.
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Information
Specialists Group, Inc.
2626 E. 82nd St.,
Suite 220
Bloomington, MN 55425
Phone:
952.941.1600
Toll-Free: 800.279.5314
Fax:
952.942.0747
info@isgmn.com
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