UPPER MONTCLAIR, N.J.—Retailers feel the current recession is changing the habits of both consumers and retailers, according to the Fad or Trend? Survey produced by RetailWire. Most (91.3 percent) said the recession will create short and long-term changes in consumer behavior; and 45.6 said they have made major changes to their business approach. Some of the consumer behavior changes include buying more private label brands (74.1 percent), looking at circulars (59 percent), using more coupons/rebates (58.6) and buying in bulk (55 percent).
Rretailers noticed consumers are more willing to buy sustainable and natural products. More than two-thirds (84.5 percent) of retailers feel consumers will continue to buy sustainable products and 78 percent think shoppers will buy locally grown or made goods during and after the recession.
In addition, retailers believe making fewer trips to the store (57.2 percent) and buying home treatments over professional ones (63.3 percent) are trends that consumers will continue after the recession.
Almost half (48.4 percent) of retailers think the economic recession will last six to 12 more months, with 23.9 percent saying it will last another 13 to 18 months.
This Internet survey was conducted in August 2009 by Dechert-Hampe Consulting. The survey results are a composite of 317 total responses from manufacturers, vendors, wholesalers, brokers and distributors.
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