Downturn grumpiness

Inquiring minds are reading this FT story about continuing consumer retrenchment in the pre-eminent consumption engine of the current world order.

link to the story

Tights, sunglasses and boneless chickens have joined the list of casualties of America’s economic crisis, as the era of impulse shopping gives way to more wary behaviour in the nation’s grocery aisles.

Americans unwilling to pay extra for their food to be prepared bought $65m more whole frozen chickens in the third quarter than a year earlier, and $50m fewer boneless birds…

“Instant gratification” categories such as sunglasses and tights registered some of the steepest declines…

Men, keen to look sharp in the office as the country faces its highest unemployment rates for a generation but unwilling to spend on the salons that had enjoyed a male grooming mini-boom, bought 28 per cent more hair-care products at grocery and pharmacy chains.

“The old world was about instant gratification, but in the new world consumers are making a shopping list . . . They’re less impulsive,” Ms Thompson said. “Changes in shopping behaviour suggest some new habits may be emerging.”

The complex interchange of financial and emotional impulses is being felt even by the nation’s cats and dogs as consumers traded down from “wet” pet food, but then supplemented their animals’ more basic diets with snacks “so they still feel good about it for their animals”, Ms Thompson said…

A trend away from eating out led to a 70 per cent jump in the number of ice cream cakes sold, as more children’s birthday parties took place at home. Ready-to-eat popcorn purchases were up 55 per cent and sausage dinners up 27 per cent as more evenings were spent in front of the television.

Popcorn and sausage dinners notwithstanding, some Americans remain willing to pay up for a healthier diet. So-called performance drinks, such as protein smoothies and vitamin-enhanced water, were up 67 per cent, or $7m, at the expense of cola sales.

Trend after trend coming in. Of course, the perspectives remain that of certain vantage points, hence not amenable to grand scale generalization perhaps. Time will tell where this is heading. Some say there could be a permanent (i.e. lasting a generation ~25-30 yrs) shift in consumer attitudes taking place - akin to what happened to the generation that grew up in the great depression. They never became great spenders even though their children (today's baby boomers) were probably the greatest spending and consuming generation in the history of the world.