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News Release:

PR Newswire – Four Distinct Types of Consumers Emerging From the Recession, Study by Decitica Reveals

You may download the highlights of our study ‘Marketing to the Post-Recession Consumers’ by clicking here or on the image below.

What is this Study About?

This research fills a major gap in marketers’ understanding of how the recession is shaping consumer behavior.  We believe that marketing in the post-recession world needs a new lens to reflect the many differences in the way consumers have internalized the recession experience.

Specifically, this research by Decitica concludes:

1. The effects of the Great Recession on consumer behavior are so profound that many of the assumptions underpinning consumer segmentation are no longer valid; and

2. Marketing strategies that do not fully recognize the diversity of consumers’ recession experiences won’t have the desired potency in the post-recession world.

It is undeniable that this recession has shaken the bedrock of American consumerism.  Many have accepted this radical change as the “new normal,” and not just a cyclical phenomenon.

With consumer sentiment oscillating from mildly encouraging to disappointing,  the trillion dollar question remains: When will the American consumer loosen the reins on restraint and ratchet up spending to meaningful levels?

Experts posit that the household deleveraging process is far from complete.  Adjustment of household balance sheets, which had begun in earnest in the thick of the recession, continues apace with nary a sign of ending anytime soon.

With this backdrop, the debate continues whether the American consumers are so indelibly scarred by the recession that they have forever abandoned the profligate spending habits of the past in favor a more restrained approach.

This study goes beyond superficial measures of consumer sentiment.  Using data from a proprietary survey, this research not only concludes that the recession has caused a profound, deep-rooted change in consumers’ spending habits but also that there are four distinct consumer segments emerging from the recession.   We provide highlights of our findings in the summary report.

Segmentation Approach

Our consumer segmentation approach is based on the premise that the best way to predict future behavior is to analyze:

(a) How intensely a particular activity is already being practiced (greater the frequency, greater the probability of repeating that action in the future),

(b) How much satisfaction is derived from this activity (greater the satisfaction, greater the likelihood of sticking to that behavior), and

(c) How confident someone is in practicing desired behaviors (higher the confidence level, higher the odds of being successful in accomplishing the goal).

This study gathered extensive data on the frequency and satisfaction with twenty nine different purchase and consumption activities and the self-efficacy (i.e., consumers’ beliefs about  their abilities to achieve certain outcomes) associated with various spending and saving strategies.

Subjecting these data into Cluster Analysis, we identified four distinct segments emerging from the recession.  They are:

The Full Report

The full report, available for a fee, contains many more details, including data and analysis of the following topics.

1. 18 attitudes dealing with the effects of the recession
2. Frequency of 29 behaviors practiced to cope with the recession
3. Satisfaction associated with 29 behaviors practiced to cope with the recession
4. Self-efficacy (i.e., self-confidence) associated with 15 spending and consumption restraint behaviors
5. Recession’s effects on consumers’ emotional state (i.e., 19 different emotions)
6. 15 measures of materialism, compulsive and impulsive buying
7. 10 measures of consumers’ thinking styles
8. 5 measures of maximizing-satisficing approach in buyer behavior
9. Changing role of price in purchase decisions, value-orientation, brand effects, pre-purchase activities, etc.
10. Expectations of future income
11. Detailed data on saving behaviors
12. Unique data on household budgeting practices
13. Triggers for increasing spending

Analyses of the above data are available for each of the segments identified in this study and also for a variety of demographic groups based on gender, income level and age group.  Custom statistical analysis and interpretation also provided for an additional fee.