An interesting research study carried out by M&C Saatchi shows how various consumer groups in New Zealand and Australia are reacting to the recession.

The study is a few months old now and I wonder if or how things have moved on considering the “deepening” of the recession.

The full release is here at Bullet PR - http://is.gd/dFr7.

In the US a separate survey carried out by Deloitte found that the recession was changing the way consumers plan their grocery trips with 27% saying they can no longer stock up on food.

In what seems like a contradiction in priorities, the survey discovered that people planned to curtail spending on things such as home improvements, socialising away from home and charitable donations more sharply than gift spending.

“I am a weapon of mass consumption” - Lily Allen.

In yet another poll carried out by Harris Interactive on behalf of online promo and coupon site retailmenot.com, it was found that not only would 54% of consumers be cutting expenditure as a result of the recession, 63% would not make a purchase unless there was a deal on offer.

Another interesting observation was that over 50% of all respondents were actively looking for deals on-line, not just in store.  It’s very obvious that we need to make sure our deals stand out on-line as much as above the line.

The full survey is available here -http://www.retailmenot.com/harrispoll.

posted by: Rowan Schaaf