Consumer Trends 2010– Changing the Way We Spend

December 22nd, 2009 • Related • Filed Under • by tisha

With the past year almost behind us, U.S. consumers are looking for new ways to save money. There’s a new trend to clip coupons and consumers are re-shopping mortgages and car insurance policies. Consumers are also becoming increasingly cautious as to how they will continue to spend their hard sales earned cash. Penny pinching patrons are spending differently and recent Nielsen polls shows that 30% of consumers said they will rely less on credit and 19 % hope to put more money into savings.

Consumers are beginning to far more than they used to. Buyers are shying away from name brands to purchase economical store brands. Eating at home and reduced spending on non-food items are also ways that Americans have chopped spending.

Trends for 2010

At the beginning the 21st century the commercial spending spree spawned a wide sense of entitlement. Now as employment numbers increase and other financial considerations are entering the picture, US consumers are restrained in their spending. This is evident in the stores and on the television. Programs such as The Fine Living Network, a cable channel started in 2002, will soon be phased out and replaced by a Cooking Channel. Also gone are “I Want That!” a show celebrating over indulgence on all fronts and “Dream Drives” which provided insider viewing of affluent US zip codes. These shows are considered passé as networks are ramping up cooking at home and frugal living programs.

Searching for Alternatives

Preferring to ‘think about it’ before spending drives consumers to search out cheaper alternatives. While great in the long run, manufacturers and retail operators are left to bare the brunt of the tight fisted consumers by doing some ‘hand-holding’ and advertising to show potential buyers the value and problem solving abilities of their product.

Consumers are Getting More “Screen Time”

Nielsen data shows that consumers are getting more ‘screen time’ –PC, TV, mobile – and advertisers will have to adjust their advertising to compensate. Cross media campaigns and commercializing social networking platforms will become more prevalent.

To get and keep buyers interested the types of advertisements will change. Gone will be the buy-buy-buy as online ads will become more interactive.

Just about every major industry is beginning to push a higher percentage of their ads online.

In-store Brands are Becoming More Popular

Growth in in-house store brands will out shine the name brand merchandise as timid spending habits grow with the economy. This may encourage name brand articles to cut their prices to compete with the in-store brands.

Small and middle sized regional and local stores will be targets for the multi-national chains. It is suggested that the smaller stores will be unable to drive profits during the rebounding growth period. This profit loss will make them targets for the larger national conglomerates who will purchase them to help strengthen their hold on the customers.