Making sense of consumers' recession behaviour

Chief Marketer contains a very sensible article about consumer behaviour during the recession (from the US).

The research shows that consumers have cut spending in many ways, but certain industries have been hit harder than others, for example:

• 20% of consumers have cancelled summer vacations
• 46% reported spending less on home improvements
• more than two thirds of consumers reported cutting back their household spending on luxury goods and services, as well as entertainment
• 50%+ reported cutting back spending on apparel and personal care (clothing, shoes, accessories, cosmetics) and major household items (electronics, appliances, household accessories)

In addition, consumers also seem to be losing optimism that the end of this recession is near.

In April 40% of said their household economic situation was improving or that they expected it to improve this year. Those reporting the same feeling in May fell to 29%.

I know it is US based and is multi-age but I think there are some good lessons for the UK’s 50-plus market. Dick Stroud