(Columbus, OH; Jan. 14, 2002;
Business Wire) The current economic environment has
consumers pulling back some of their spending.
In addition, they don't see the
economy returning to normal until the second half of
2002, and many have changed some buying behaviors since
September 11. That's according to the Consumer Intentions
and Actions Survey conducted by BIGresearch, which
interviewed over 7,100 consumers between January 6-10th.
``It certainly looks as if the events
of September 11 have had a profound effect on the types
of products people are buying and their behavior patters.
Consumers appear to be more grounded in their homes and
more practical and less impulsive when purchasing
products,'' said Joe Pilotta, Ph.D., vice president of
research for BIGresearch. ``If these patterns continue,
it could have a profound effect on retail strategies
developed for a pre-September 11 world,'' said Pilotta.
Some key findings from the survey show
that since September 11, 44.8 % of people are spending
more time with family and 39.2% said they are more
practical when making purchases, while only 5.6% said
they are less practical and more impulsive.
Regarding the current economic
climate, 62.9 felt it would take from 6 months to more
than a year for the economy to get back to normal.
Cleveland's JEK Analytics economist Jack Kleinhenz, Ph.D.
of JEK Analytics, an economic advisor to BIGresearch,
argues that ``consumer spending is growing-better than in
past recessions-- but the extent of a potential rebound
is unclear.''
Consumer confidence was static from
the December numbers of 62.4% being confident or very
confident vs. 61.8 in January. The general uncertainty
towards the economy that consumers are feeling appears to
have created a desire to put their financial houses in
order, as expressed by their financial plans for the next
3 months, which are lead by paying down debt 46.3%,
increasing savings 38.1%, and decreasing overall spending
37.5%.
All is not lost for retailers; as the
move on behalf of many consumers to spend more time with
family has also created a desire to buy furniture, home
appliances and electronics. Over the next 6 months, 17.6%
plan on buying furniture, 14.7% home appliances and 20.1%
TV's/VCR's/DVD's. In addition, 13.1% also plan on
spending more on groceries and 18.4% on home improvement
supplies over the next 90 days.
Conventional wisdom holds that, in bad
times one may tend to eat more sweets, starches, and
comfort foods. However, this study shows quite the
contrary. Since September 11th, consumers say they are
eating more fruit, poultry, and vegetables, while eating
significantly less red meat, starch, sweets and snack
foods.
``The current economic environment has
created some hurdles for many retailers but discretionary
purchasing power is improving due to lower energy prices.
As incomes increase, consumers will return to normal
spending patterns with some new precautions. Retailers,
distributors, and supply chain vendors will just have to
adjust to these new buying behaviors,'' said Kleinhenz
About BIGresearch:
BIGresearch gathers consumer market
intelligence from one of the world's largest online
communities that includes over 60 million people.
BIGresearch's monthly syndicated Consumer Intentions and
Actions Survey monitors the pulse of over 5000 consumers
to uncover previously unknown, comprehensible, and
actionable information in order to empower its clients
with unique insights for identifying new opportunities in
a fragmented and transitory marketplace. Complimentary
top line findings are available at
http://www.bigresearch.com/. The data is available for
purchase from BIGresearch, which includes the ability to
cross tab respondents by age, sex, zip code, geographic
regions, retail store names, and all other data points.