CB General CB Over Last 25 Years

8/4/2019 CB General CB Over Last 25 Years

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Marketers ad academic strive to

uderstad ad gai isights ito

the mriad was i which cosumers

behave. The questio is who is

drivig who? Are customers reall as

complicated as we make them out to be

or are marketers creatig the moster

cosumers that the are the trig to

serve i iovative was?

Was cosumer behaviour complicated

ad promiscuous whe Her Ford wrote

i his autobiograph1 - "Any customer

can have a car painted any colour that he

wants, so long as it is black"? It was all

about stadardisatio, ad cosumers

appeared to be coteted participats i

the mass market. So, how did busiess

marketig move rom stadardisatio

through dieretiatio to persoalisatio

ad idividualisatio to empowermet o

the cosumer?

The aswer ma lie i the itroductio

OXIRM

RESEARCHTHEMES

COnSUMERBEHAVIOUROVER THE

LAST 25yEARS

By MALOBI KAR, RESEARCHFELLOW, OXFORD InSTITUTEOF RETAIL MAnAGEMEnT

AGE 46 OXIRM RESEARCH THEMES


2/9

ad gradual domiatio o iormatio

techolog i our dail lives, i

combiatio with the ifuece o

macro evirometal chages drivig

compaies to serve customers ecietl

i the ame o persoalisatio,

idividualisatio ad empowermet.

Empowermet ad the resultat mutual

beets became a source o competitive

advatage. What ma ot have bee

obvious to these ewl-empowered

customers was that with empowermet

came resposibilit ad accoutabilit.

Ad heres the paradox the ew age

customer wated to be empowered, but

was hesitat to take o the resposibilit

ad accoutabilit that came with

it. The result was disgrutled ad

dejected cosumers who were orever

o the lookout or the best optio ad

ruthless whe it came to switchig

rom oe orgaisatio to aother. This

behaviour was urther exacerbated b the

ma choices available to cosumers.

The patters o chage i cosumer

behaviour, the triggers o this chage ad

the impact o orgaisatioal strateg

ad societ i geeral, are traced i the

ollowig sectios.

EARLY CONSUMERS

A discussio o the cosumer over

the last 25 ears caot igore the

cosumers who came beore i the

1950s, 1960s ad 1970s. Cosumer

behaviour has chaged greatl over

THE RETAIL DIGEST PAG


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the last 25 ears, but it has bee

evolutioar ad the seeds o chage

have bee apparet or geeratios.

Marketig scholars rom the 1950s used

Pavlovia learig models ad Freudia

pschoaaltic models to uderstad the

cosumer psche.

The Pavlovia model was based o our

cetral cocepts those o drive, cue,

respose ad reiorcemet. These

models wet a log wa towards explaiig

how particular resposes are evoked ol

i relatio to a particular coguratio

o cues. For the marketer this meat

desigig advertisemets to reiorcethe use o specic products eective

advertisig was see as a cue to evoke the

drives associated with those cues.

Freudia pschoaaltical models

wet a ew steps urther i idetiig

the motives ad smbols behid a

particular purchase. A deeper level o

uderstadig o cosumer behaviour

was sought usig such models. Caadia

marketig proessor Jud Zaichkowsk

commets that such theories ad

their applicatio i this area made

or ar more iterestig readig tha

the graphs ad curves o ecoomics2.

These earlier techiques uderpied

later developmets. Marketers ad

academics became sesitised to the

act that a cosumers shoppig list

provided valuable iormatio. A stud

b America behaviourist Frakli

B. Evas3 sought to determie the

diereces i persoalit traits betwee

those who bought Ford ad those who

bought Chevrolet but the stud did ot

ield a meaigul result. What was

importat though, was that mechaisms

to uderstad cosumer behaviour

were chagig rapidl. Accordig to

Zaichkowsk, the iabilit to alwas

uderstad cosumer motivatio also

resulted i the cosumer o the 1950s

ad 1960s beig labelled as the

irratioal pschotic purchaser.

The itroductio o the US Cosumer

Bill o Rights i 1963 gave the cosumera elevated status: B providig a

social cotract betwee busiess ad

societ, the Govermet took o the

resposibilit o protectig the rights o

the cosumer. These icluded the right

to saet, the right to be iormed, the

right to choose ad the right to be heard.

The market place i the US became ar

more diversied, segmetatio strategies

gaied importace ad the seeds

were sow o customer-cetricism.

Mauacturers could o loger simpl

produce - cosumer eeds ad wats

eeded to be take ito accout.

Cosumers had choice or the rst time

ad were aware o it.

However, this so-called customer-cetricism was limited to a mass market

iudated with products mauactured

alog the assembl lie. Fordism was

commo ad was accompaied b the

Levittia priciples o service ecouters

as services were sstematised

through plaig, optimal processes,

cosistec, ad capital itesive

ivestmets. This model was the

oudatio o the success o McDoalds

ad ma other mass service providers

i the 1970s ad 1980s.

Cosumers graduall became receptive

to the idea that products ad services

were widel available ad were thereore

activel searchig or iormatio about

what the bought. Zaichkowsk labels this

ew thikig cosumer as the problem

solver. The 1970s cotiued to see the

rise o the cosumer as a problem solver

i a marketplace iudated with brads

ad product iormatio. However,

cosumer research i the 1970s also

discovered that cosumer memor was

short-lived ad the cosumers were

strugglig to cope with iormatio

overload. Zaichkowsk observes i

this cotext, that whilst the umber

o choices available to cosumers was

icreasig durig the 1970s, the skills

required to process ad retai all this

iormatio was limited.

TIME-POOR CONSUMERS

OF THE 1980S

While the 1970s was or ma thedecade o makig choices ad copig

with the diculties o iormatio

overload, the 1980s saw the advet o

cosumers who disegaged rom high

ivolvemet decisio makig. The lack

o discretioar time i a eviromet

o choice triggered a cosumer decisio

makig-process based o rules o

thumb to simpli the purchase process.

Such rough measures tpicall cetred

aroud buig the cheapest products,

buig the well-kow brads or

makig purchase decisios based o

recommedatios rom rieds.

The abudace o iormatio i a

cluttered eviromet ad the lack

o support i iormatio hadlig allcotributed to a situatio where the cost

o thikig was recogised as a limitig

actor i processig choices, givig rise

to customers Zaichkowsk terms the

cogitive miser. Further actors arose

rom chages i socio-demographics

such as the risig umber o wome

i the workorce, a icrease i sigle

paret households ad risig umbers

o people workig at weekeds. The

oudatios or coveiece shoppig

ad coveiece products were

thereore laid dow durig the 1980s.

The busiess implicatios were see i

the emergece o catalogue shoppig,

home TV shoppig ad direct marketig

all geared towards attractig these

time-pressured cosumers b simpliig

their decisio makig process.

Academic thikig alog customer-

cetric busiesses had progressed

beod what was beig see i practice.

new york Uiversit academics Carol

Surpreat ad Michael Solomo

published a paper4 i the Joural

o Marketig that gave isights ito

how busiesses could icreasigl

persoalise their strategies to meet the

eeds o cosumers.

MANY DIFFERING

CONSUMERS OF THE 1990S

The 1990s saw chages i cosumer

behaviour ad levels o egagemet

betwee cosumers ad busiesses

shit. O the socio-demographic rot,wester ecoomies prepared to ace the

cosequeces o a ageig populatio.



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The ageig bab boomers ad the rise

o immigratio to wester coutries

rom the developig ecoomies saw

a rapid trasitio i the damics o

cosumer behaviour. Marketers also

saw a ew, potetiall afuet segmet

o cosumers withi this ageig group.

I the UK or example, the spedig

power o the pesioers (the power o

the gre poud) was see as a busiess

opportuit, ad services tailored

specicall to meet the requiremets o

this portio o the populatio became

a wa orward i a otherwise shrikig

market. However, this was more o a

iche pheomeo.

The bab-boomers bor i the post

World War II era would be at the peak

o their careers b the 1990s, holdig

proessioal qualicatios ad stable

corporate jobs. While o the oe had

there was a ageig populatio, the

market also witessed the growth

o a corporate culture with prooud

implicatios or liestle ad attitude

chage amogst cosumers. Icreasig,

job stabilit ad risig job opportuities

meat there was securit i meetig the

basic eeds i lie at which poit the

qualit o lie rather tha material goods

became a priorit. Ejomet o the er

aspects o lie (outside o the ormal

work eviromet) became a source o

satisactio. Cosumer demad was o

loger limited to products ad services.

Accordig to Ke Dchtwald ad Greg

Gable5 o commuicatios, marketig ad

cosultig rm Age Wave, icreasigl

there was a eed or the experiece

that came with buig ad cosumig

products ad services. Cosumers

became more itrospective ad ocused

o the amil. Househusbads became

more commo, ad husbads also

recogised the advatages o havig

a workig wie. Dual icome amilies

became commoplace, household chores

ad purchasig goods ad services

became more o a collective decisio.

Wome ad childre bega to pla a

bigger role i the purchase decisio

makig process.

I additio to these developmets,

a etirel ew segmet o immigrat

cosumers etered the markets o

wester coutries, especiall i the

US ad the UK. The ifuece came

primaril rom the Southeast Asia ad

South Asia immigrats. The took

with them their cultural values ad

livig stle, ad cotributed urther

to the chagig socio-demographics

i these wester cultures. Withi

these immigrat commuities, three

geeratios would ote live together

it was a cohesive group ad major

decisios were take joitl. This

was also refected i their shoppig

behaviour, which placed emphasis ocollective decisio makig.

I north America, there was also a

declie i the idividual purchasig

power o cosumers ad purchase

decisio makig became more o a

collective eort. The chagig decisio

makig patters together with reduced

purchasig power had its impact o the

existig retailig structure i the wester

ecoomies. Bulk purchasig ad categor

purchasig to realise ecoomies o

scale became a commo pheomeo.

Retailers who were quick to react bega

to tailor their ormats, ad there was a

rise o hpermarkets, discout stores

ad supermarkets. The cocept o

coveiece took o a dieret meaig

as it was o loger limited to dig the

right product i the right place it was

about dig all the products i oe

place to miimise time ad eort. As

cost o livig wet up, cosumers oud

it cheaper to move to suburbs: Retailers

ollowed suit ad this saw the begiig

o out-o-tow ad edge-o-tow retailig

i wester markets.

The busiess, marketig ad retail,

the implicatios o the chagig

cosumer prole o the 1990s were

maiold. Busiesses bega to proclaim

themselves as beig customer-cetric.

The shitig customer base meat

costat iovatio i product, ad

service strateg became a source o

competitive advatage. Customers hadmore ad more to choose rom but

the decisio-makig process became

Te ageing babyboomers and therise of immigrationto western countriesfrom the developingeconomies saw arapid transition inthe dynamics ofconsumer behaviour.



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complex as the umber o decisio

makers spread over a wider spectrum

o age, geder ad culture. Busiesses

also recogised the value o retaiig

cosumers ad appreciatig the

lietime value o cosumers. Customer

relatioship maagemet became the

ew busiess matra ad the abilit to

acquire ad retai existig customers

became the most talked (ad writte)

about topic or maagemet academics

ad practitioers.

Dieretiatio, persoalisatio ad

maagemet o customer portolios

became amiliar terms, ad customersrealised that busiesses would

be competig or their custom.

Cosequetl, cosumers bega to

demad high stadards o service

qualit. Maagig expectatios, gaiig

customer eedback ad dealig with

customer complaits became itegral

to good busiess practice. With a

icreasig emphasis o satisig

cosumers, i-store ambiece,

atmospherics, dcor, ease ad comort

o shoppig became sigicat i

deig the etire shoppig experiece.

The itagible elemet i a iteractio

betwee the buer ad seller became a

crucial elemet i desigig busiess

strategies. Marketig ad sellig o

services were thrust to the orerot o

busiess processes.

EMPOWERED AND TECH-

SAVVY CONSUMERS OF THE

EARLY 2000S

B the begiig o the ew milleium,

the Iteret prooudl chaged

cosumer behaviour. The era o olie

shoppig dawed: Betwee 2003 ad

2004, olie shoppig i America had

rise b 26 percet to USD55 billio

accordig to statistics produced b

Americas Departmet o Commerce,

although this was still ol 1.6 percet

o the total retail sales i the US6

The vast majorit o the people were

cotiuig to bu thigs i the bricks

ad mortar world. A sigicat chage

was that time-poor, thrit cosumerswere ow ivestigatig product prices

ad details olie, ad cocludig the

purchase phsicall i the stores. This

was the case with 60 millio cosumers

i Europe, most o whom were shoppig

olie or the simple, predictable

products such as DVDs beore

graduatig to more complex items.

I the US, three out o our cosumers

were shoppig or ew cars olie eve

though the al purchase was earl

alwas made rom traditioal dealers.

However, the cosumer was eterig the

store armoured with iormatio about

the products as well as best available

deals. The ed result o this was the

emergece o the empowered, iormed,sophisticated ad icreasigl ckle

cosumer.

But this was ol the begiig. With

the advet o cosumer-drive olie

ad ope source iovatio, cosumer

empowermet was take to a completel

dieret level. Cosumers were ow

activel egaged i desigig products

ad services to meet their eeds ad

were actig as advisors to the service

providers. So how did this happe?

As techological chages accelerated,

competitive pressures orced compaies

to augmet their kowledge ad

capabilities. Keepig the customer at

the cetre o the busiess, orgaisatios

had to ideti iovative was to provide

tailored products ad services to tech-

savv, well-iormed cosumers. Some

rms were able to make advatage

rom these sophisticated cosumers

b ivolvig them i the process o

iovatio. Eric Vo Hippel, Proessor o

Techological Iovatio i the MIT Sloa

School o Maagemet reers to this as

democratisig iovatio7 This process

gave users (eterprises or customers)

the opportuit to become ivolved

with iovatio o requisite products

ad services that the could the reel

release, ulike i traditioal iovatio

where the mauacturers idetied

user eeds, developed the products ad

the looked to make prots rom sellig

them. I cases o ope iovatio, usersteded to iovate collaborativel i

commuities. How did cosumers behave

ad egage i this process? The were

ivolved i the process right rom the

iovatio stage through to product/

service lauch stage.

At the idea-geeratio stage i

e-busiess, rms emphasised richess

over reach i their collaborative

arragemets with customers: Fewer but

higher qualit customers became the

target. Blogs ad wikis were the tpical

examples o iormal ad ree fow o

thought withi the rm. Oce a viable

idea was geerated, it was ecessar to

develop the idea ito a comprehesive

cocept that could be urther tailoredto meet the eeds ad preereces

o customers. At the cocept-testig

stage, customers were give the optio

to make trade-os amog attributes o

ew product cocepts usig dieret

web-based implemetatios. I order to

allow customers to participate directl i

the product desig stage, rms created

various toolkits to acilitate user-drive

iovatio. Such toolkits gave customers

the optio to make desig-related

chages icludig price, perormace

ad appearace. At the test ad lauch

stage, members o the virtual commuit

took o the role o buers ad ed-

users, ad gave the rm eedback o

the product ater virtual presetatios

ad simulatios. Google was oe o the

orgaisatios that started to rel o user

experiece groups to gure out what Web

surers like ad aimed to determie what

chages made the service easier to use.

US academic Robert Koziets idetied

dieret kids o users withi the olie

commuit that var depedig o

the tpes o social ties the keep ad

their level o ivolvemet withi the

commuit8. The are characterised as:

- tourists lack strog ties but have

short-lived cotemporar iterest i

the topic;

- miglers maitai strog social ties

but are ot ver ivolved with the

topic;

- devotees are highl ivolved withthe topic but ot related to the

commuit ad



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USA: Te Economy akes its oll on Organics

- isiders who are both strogl

associated with the commuit ad

highl ivolved i the topic.

The users particularl well suited to

virtual ew product developmet are

those who are devoted, ethusiastic,

activel ivolved ad sophisticated

i their iteractio withi the olie

commuit. The tpicall exhibit what

is kow as lead user characteristics.

Their eeds are usuall ahead o the

others i the commuit ad the also

possess i-depth techical kowledge

ad a geeral uderstadig o product

uctioalities. The share ma o the

characteristics o the earl adopters o

the iovatio diusio model. This was

the case with Threadless9 a commuit-

cetred olie apparel store ru b

skiCorp, Chicago. The ouder Jake

nickell used his olie rieds rom web

desig site Dreamless.org where hespet time i the orum, talkig to his

olie rieds ad egagig i Photoshop

teis. I Photoshop teis, desigers

would pass digital photographs back

ad orth, ad challege oe aother

to maipulate images i the most

outrageous was possible.

Withi the Dreamless.org commuit,

Jake nickell had a read base o activel

ivolved dedicated desigers whe he

decided to ru the rst desig competitio

or Threadless. The iovatig compa

would tpicall beet rom the isights

o such users at the idea geeratio ad

cocepts stage as well as i desigig

ad egieerig. To stimulate ideas rom

the virtual commuit, rms orgaised

olie idea cotests ad i some cases

virtual stock markets to ideti qualied

commuit members. Members o the

Threadless commuit submit t-shirt

desigs olie. The desigs are the put

to a public vote. A small percetage o

submitted desigs are selected or pritigad sold through a olie store, ad

through two phsical stores i Chicago.

Creators o the wiig desigs receive a

prize o cash ad store credit.

Commuit ad userdrive iovatio

has see the cosumers egage with

orgaisatios i a advisor capacit.

With this orm o iovatio, cosumer

empowermet at the start o the ew

milleium was o loger limited to sel-

help as we experiece i the case o user

riedl kiosks i airports ad retail stores.

This was a case o real ivolvemet

with the service provider, where the

empowered cosumers were activel

egagig with the service provider.

GREEN AND ETHICAL

CONSUMPTION IN THE MID

2000S

A otable chage i cosumer behaviour

i the mid 2000s came rom a

icreasig awareess o evirometal

issues. Evirometalism has, over theears, become deepl rooted i the

cosumer mid set ad i public polic.

+35%

+30%

+25%

+20%

+15%

+10%

+5%

0%

4W/E02/25/06

4W/E05/20/06

4W/E08/12/06

4W/E11/04/06

4W/E01/27/06

4W/E04/21/07

4W/E07/14/07

4W/E10/06/07

4W/E12/29/07

4W/E03/22/08

4W/E06/14/08

4W/E09/06/08

4W/E11/29/08

4W/E02/21/09

4W/E05/16/09

Monthly sales growth

o organics below 4% in

last fve periods

Source: Scantrack and Labelrends, Services o Te Nieslen Company; (FDM ex-Walmart) % change in our week USD sales vs. YAGO



7/9

I terms o chagig cosumer behaviour,

this traslated ito cosumers embracig

gree products ad services over the past

decade. The are ver ote prepared

to pa a premium or the chace to do

good ad i ma cases, be see to be

doig good as Paul Flatters ad Michael

Willmott o the social ad cosumer

treds cosultac Trajector poit out10.

Cosumers i the west realised that

sustaiabilit, recclig, orgaic ood,

bottled water, waste ad the global

eviromet as a whole are all related to

the actios the chose to take toda11.

Ethical cosumptio also itersected withgree cosumptio durig this period

airl-traded products, locall-sourced

produce, ad eggs laid b cage ree hes

were ote more expesive compared

to traditioal alteratives. The ethical

wester cosumers would thereore gai

the moral high groud b showig their

loalt to ethical ad gree products.

The questio to ask i this cotext would

be the extet to which the ethical ad

gree cosumer represeted the mass

customer audiece. Critics o the Fair

Trade movemet have labelled it as a

iche cocept deemed appropriate or

the privileged ew o our societ who

have the luxur o time (ad moe)

to dwell o these issues o busiess

marketig. Fair Trade was see as

automaticall assumig a certai refexive

cosumer who was also represetative

o a particular positio i terms o

class, educatio ad/or level o existig

kowledge. Or, i other words, Fair Trade

was a luxur a ew could aord.

The criticism could be coutered

b suggestig that havig a iche

cosumer base represeted some

advacemet i the eld o ethical

busiess. However, questios still

remaied about the autheticit o Fair

Trades lik with cosumer sel-iterest.

Gree cosumerism was ar more

strogl embedded i cosumer culture

ad sel-iterest. This was attributable

to a icreasigl health-cosciouscosumer, especiall i the developed

wester markets.

The liks to ethical cosumerism

however cotiued to remai suspect.

The lack o trasparec i the suppl

chai ad the impact o the supposed

beets o Fair Trade o the lives o

those producig the products exacerbate

this problem. Furthermore, there is the

questio o whether cosumers are ull

iormed about Fair Trade. The pictorial

depictio o armers o the packagig

strikes the right chord with cosumers

to the poit o eablig the decisio

makig ad cotributig to the eel-

good actor associated with Fair Trade

purchase. Hece the risk o lack o

uderstadig o how Fair Trade mightcotribute to improvig the lives o the

producers weakes a possible lik to

ethical cosumerism.

For all o the cicism aroud gree ad

ethical cosumerism, the more pertiet

questio to ask would be about the uture

o such cosumerism. AC nielse report

o the post-recessio cosumer poits

to the arrested treds vis-a-visethical

ad gree cosumerism, especiall i the

wester developed world.

Flatters ad Willmott suggest that

like most altruistic spedig, ethical

cosumerism will take a back seat i the

curret recessio. Their ratioale or this

claim is quite straightorward whe

people are ocused o eedig their

ow childre ad keepig a roo over

their heads, cocer about childre i

other parts o the world or about aimal

welare drops dow the list o priorities.

However, the authors do ot dismiss the

ethical cosumer outright. The are o

the opiio that post-recessio, this tred

will recover, albeit slowl. As cosumer

codece returs, people will rst

atted to buig the thigs the had goe

without ol the will the retur to pre-

recessio levels o altruistic spedig.

CONSUMERS IN THE

EMERGING MARKETS IN THE

2000S

Just as markets such as Brazil, Russia,

Chia ad Idia were emergig ad thecosumers gettig exposed to wester

ifueces, the recessio hit the global

ecoom. However, cosumers i

these emergig markets, ulike their

wester couterparts seemed kee to

put the recessioar treds behid ad

cotiue with the cosumptio culture

that the growig ecoom eabled.

Such cosumptio patters would also

ted to be ostetatious as a culture o

cospicuous cosumptio is more commo

i such markets. youg proessioal

wome emulate the Sex ad the Cit wa

o lie, ad the purchase o, or example,

a Louis Vuitto bag (ad beig see with

oe) becomes the topic o coversatio i

social gatherigs. The meas ad abilit to

emulate a wester liestle i a otherwisetraditioal settig is the wa orward or

this sectio o cosumers.

I Idia or example, the geeral

perceptio is that the middle class

comprises the oug, codet ad

ambitious class that ears ad speds

o braded products, gadgets ad other

orms o cospicuous cosumptio. The

have bee reerred to b several ames

the Great Idia Middle Class, the neo

Middle Class (nMC), the elite middle

class, the Spedarati ad eve the I ca

ad so I will speders.

This trasitio i attitude has also bee

triggered b the revolutio i mass

media cable ad satellite televisio,

broadbad coectios ad icreasig

Iteret usage, all o which has brought

the latest iormatio o products ad

services to a larger populatio. Easier

access to iormatio has also ehaced

buig desire. The risig credit culture

ad cheap ace optios have made

ullmet o these desires eas.

Idia jouralist ad commetator Alam

Sriivas, however, gives a ver isightul

commetar12 whilst capturig the attitude

o this middle class ad questios whether

or ot there is a elemet o hpe aroud

the middle class ad their potetial as

cosumers o moder Idia retailig.

The commo perceptio is that the

neo Middle class sped like there is o

tomorrow ad live or the preset i thatsese their attitude is ar closer to the rest

o the wester world. Coupled with this



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attitude towards lie is a certai amout

o prudece whe it comes to spedig

habits. Their spedig is ot based o

idetiig categories that are splurge-

worth, but based more o how it ts i

with their liestle, adds value to their

livig experieces ad eriches their lives

i some orm or aother. Whe it comes

to spedig, it is related directl to their

liestle. Whilst the liestle ad socio-

ecoomic status o nMCs has chaged,

the iheret values ad overall culture ma

ot have udergoe a dramatic chage.

Sriivas cites a example rom a stud o

Idia sotware proessioals or whom

carig or the older geeratio ad the

importace o maitaiig their culture

ad values through the medium o amil

cotiues to be a priorit.

So how would these cosumers emerge

rom the recessio? Flatters ad Willmott

commet that i wester markets, the

cohort o cosumers emergig rom therecessio will, like their great gradparets

who lived through the Great Depressio,

carr o attitudes ad behaviours the

lear ow throughout their lives. Some

cosumers would retur to boom time

cosumptio patters i the comig

decades, but millios o cosumers uder

the age o 35 will cotiue to remai

simplicit seekig ad thrit, et hold

compaies to high stadards.

The tred i the emergig markets post-

recessio ma be i sharp cotrast.

This is ot to sa that the would ot

tighte their belts temporaril, but the

nielse Compa report suggests that

cosumers i the emergig markets will

retur to their previous spedig habits

ad liestle much sooer tha their

wester couterparts. The ratioale or

this is i the risig cosumer codece

idex that idicated that durig Jue

2009, there was a 13 poit rise i the

cosumer codece idex i Idia ad

a 8 poit rise i Russia ad Brazil.

IN SUMMARY

Cosumer midsets i developed ad

developig ecoomies seem to be two

eds o the spectrum. More specicall,

cosumers i the latter ecoomies

are similar to the 1960s ad 1970s

cosumers o the wester world.

However, the have the advatage o a

moder hi-tech world where real time

iormatio exchage takes place. But

the attitude ad aspiratios o these

cosumers are those o the ewl

oud codece ad pride emaatig

rom the ecoomic progress o their

respective coutries ad this is refected

i the ature o the cosumerism that

is developig i these coutries. The

cosumers i wester ecoomies o

the other had are goig back to basics.

That is ot to sa that cosumerism is

ast disappearig but the excitemet ad

ethusiasm or big ames ad brads

is ot the most popular mechaism or

makig a liestle statemet. I act,

makig a liestle statemet is ot the

top priorit or these cosumers amore.Oe could thereore sa the wheel o

retailig has tured a ull circle.

Russian and Chinese Consumers are Utilising Spare Cash

to Keep Up with the Latest Fashion rendsop 10 countries who spend spare cash on purchasing new clothes

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0

RU CN UA PH BR PL DE FR AR IN

Source: Nielsen Global Online Consumer Surve y, June 2009; 14,029 respondents in Europe, Asia Pacifc, Middle East and North America



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