Consumer Shopping Behavior During a Recession

Three recently published articles have discussed how the current economic downturn is changing consumer shopping behavior.

The first, published earlier this week in The New York Times, concisely summarizes the overall behavioral changes consumers have made in its title – “Consumers Are Saving More and Spending Less.”

The second, “How to Win Frugal Consumers and Influence Them to Buy,” published in the January 29th issues of BusinessWeek magazine, focuses on an interview with Paco Underhill.  Paco is a recognized leader in the field of consumer shopping behavior.  The article discusses how use of a properly designed in-store marketing signs can increase sales – even during a recession.  While the article highlights some important points, it assumes that consumers are going to stores to make purchases – something that isn’t always the case these days.  Instead, many shoppers have shifted their spending from malls and big-box stores to online retailers like Amazon.com.

The final article, “Shop Till Everyone Else Drops,” published yesterday, discusses how Amazon.com is thriving even though times are tough.  I believe the phenomenon of “smart” online retailers taking market share from traditional retailers is something that will continue in the future.  Two key reasons are (1) lower prices and (2) convenience – selling points that are very hard to compete against.

 Print This Post