Consumer & Market Trends
During Recession
Cross Industry Research Summary Report

Recession Trends:
“
“ Bloomberg, July 26 -- The worst U.S. recession in five decades probably
eased in the second quarter (2009) as trade and government stimulus
mitigated the damage from declines in housing, inventories and consumer
and business spending”.
“
President Obama is similarly optimistic declaring that:
“
the worst may be over in the economic crisis..
Source : http://www.bloomberg.com

Is it really…
Are there signs of consumer recovery?

TrendsSpotting has captured
consumers’ shopping
behavior indications for 2009:
Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Recession Trends

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Food Consumption
of consumers eat dinner at home more often
56%
than before the downturn & nearly the same
percentage are eating dinner less often at
restaurants. More than one-third (37%) of
consumers surveyed report going to bars or
clubs less often.
Source: April 09 Nielsen Survey

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Changes In Buying Habits
• A greater tendency to buy larger package sizes (42%)
• Buying more U.S. products (28%)
• Purchasing more locally made products (25%)
• Known products (23%) versus experimenting with new ones
• Private label food (7.4% increase in sales).
Source: April 09 Nielsen Survey, August 09 , Nielsen: US Store Brand Development

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Restaurant Traffic
2.6%
Decline in total US restaurant industry traffic
for 09 spring quarter versus the same quarter
last year (sharpest decline in industry traffic
since 1981).
Source: NPD’s Consumer Reports on Eating Share Trends (CREST®)

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Restaurant Traffic
• Household with kids, cut back their visits to all segments of
restaurants
• Over 50% of industry’s decline traced to fewer supper visits from
parties with kids.
• Traffic was down 2% at quick service restaurants.
• Casual dining declined 4% and midscale was down 6%.
Source: NPD’s Consumer Reports on Eating Share Trends (CREST®)

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Coffee Purchase
83%
of American consumers drink coffee more at
home ( up 5 points from a year ago). Coffee
consumption pattern did not change as 54%
drink coffee daily.
Source: 2009 National Coffee Drinking Trends survey

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Alcohol
50%
of American consumers are actively seeking out
best deals. 24% of wine consumers choose less
expensive drinks. One third of beer, wine and
spirits consumers order fewer drinks.
Source: April 09 Nielsen Survey

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Pet Foods And Veterinary Services
22%
of American put a high priority on pets
compared to Canadians (17%), French (15%) and
Italians (12%). The pet industry is expected to
generate $51.6 billion this year - 1.3%
more than in 2008.
Source: 1- ING DIRECT/ TNS 2- : IBISWorld.

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Home Broadband
home broadband adoption, is up from 55% in 2008.
63%
34% of home broadband users said they
subscribed to a service that gave them faster
access speeds, an increase from 29% in 2008. A
growing share of broadband subscribers pay for
premium service that gives them faster speeds.
.
They are also paying more for the extra speed
than they did a year ago
Source : Pew June 09 survey

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Cell Phone Services
of cell phone users (19% of all adults) report that in
22%
the past year they have cancelled or cut back cell
phone service.
Cell phone users are economizing on service
plans.85% of adults report to have cell phone
service, up from 77% at the end of 2007.
Source : PEW’s April 2009 survey

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Smart Phones
Smart phone ownership continues to rise,
with 37% of respondents now reporting
they own a smart phone.
14.4% say they plan on buying a smart
phone in the next 90 days, the highest
percentage ever recorded
in a ChangeWave survey.
Source : June 09 survey by ChangeWave

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Cable TV Services
22%
of US adults have cancelled or cut back cable
TV service in the last year. More than a quarter
of consumers plan to reduce or cancel their
satellite or cable TV subscriptions, according to
the research, up from 15% six months ago.
Source : 1 : PEW’s April 2009 survey, 2: Media Channel

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Video Games
Drop to $863 million in video games sales were
registered in May from the same period a year ago.
23%
Sales of hardware (consoles and hand-held
devices) dropped 30% while sales of
software fell 17%, to $449 million.
In June - domestic retail sales of hardware and
software fell 31% - the largest monthly drop
since September 2000.
Source : NPD GROUP

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Automobiles
Although Americans' dependence on the
20%
family car remains strong (88% rate an
automobile as a necessity) - 2009 auto
sales are expected to decline by 20.5
percent, or 10.5 million vehicles.
Source: 1-April's PEW Research report, 2- IBISWorld

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Hybrid Cars
On February 2009, only 15,144 hybrids sold nationwide, down
almost two-thirds from April 08, when the segment's sales
peaked and gas averaged $3.57 a gallon.
Source : LA Times

Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
Education Planning
of high school guidance counselors saw an increase
71%
in the number of students who this year chose less-
expensive colleges over their "dream school."
Source : National Association for College Admission Counselling Survey

About the report:
Food & Drinks Media & Automobiles Education
Communications
50 pages detailed report across 8 industries
Over 50 consumer studies and web metric
trends analyses
Instant download

Conclusions:
TrendsSpotting finds that contrary to some optimistic public statements, for
the majority of industries, recovery is still some ways down the road.
After initially cutting back across the board, consumers have reassessed their
personal situation and begun to employ a new set of priorities. They are
checking out private labels and, if found satisfying, they will become loyal to
them. Consumers aren’t sacrificing electronics, but are reconsidering their
options.
Recovery will bring a new age of consumers, much more aware of their
expenses and their priorities. Consumers will not revert to their previous
habits as those were proven to be unsound. Recovery will come from markets
matching consumers’ new priorities.

About the report:
In this TrendsSpotting report we follow the main consumer markets and
consumers’ behavior indications for the year 2009. To better understand how
Americans are adjusting their buying habits during the recession we have
collected consumers’ spending statistics, data provided by recognized market
research companies. TrendsSpotting’s unique consumer insights derive from
marketing research expertise along with experienced use of web metrics tools
such as Search Trends and Social Media monitoring .
Utilizing these tools to “listen” to consumer interaction and follow their
search processes, provides good indications on consumer interests and
intentions. TrendsSpotting presents web metrics findings in each industry
reviewed.

Reviews on the report:
--- Guy Kawasaki,
Co-founder of Alltop.com and Garage Technology Ventures:
“Consumer and Market Trends during Recession” is a very interesting and
timely report. In addition to a comprehensive review of survey data,
TrendsSpotting's unique use of web metrics reflecting consumers' online
behavior, brings market research into the Web 2.0 era. I find TrendsSpotting's
business review an important resource for marketers“.
--- Marian Salzman,
President Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, and trendspotter:
"The report is enormously comprehensive and stunningly interesting.
TrendsSpotting.com has pulled it all together to make it highly relevant. I am
impressed by the breadth and depth, and timeliness of the content.
Wow.“

Buy the full 50 page report:
The “Consumer and Market Trends during Recession” report covers the U.S.
market in the following consumer industries:
Food and Beverage, Apparel, Media and Electronics, Travel, Health,
Automobiles, Education and Pets.
It provides a broad perspective on consumers' changing behavior during the
current economic downturn.
Click here to buy this report- online

The report, “Consumers and Markets during Recession" was conducted by TrendsSpotting
Market Research, headed by Dr. Taly Weiss, a Social Psychologist and Marketing Trends researcher.
TrendsSpotting.com is a Trends Research company. Using unique research 2.0 methodologies we
identify key industry trends and compile them into marketing insights. TrendsSpotting.com offers
dedicated Trend Research Reports according to need and publishes syndicated Trend Reports.
Read more on TrendsSpotting.com.
TrendsSpotting Research Tools:
TrendsSpotting collects Research 2.0 market intelligence in order to provide direct insights into
consumer’s needs, perceptions, and opinions. We use a variety of web metrics technologies such
as search trends, news buzz, blog citations, forum discussions and social network monitoring to
identify local and global trends and buzz.

Interested in recession trends? Find out more about our recent report:
Five Dominating Advertising Approaches Dealing with Recession.
For more information on TrendsSpotting Trend Reports and on customized market
trends research please contact: customerservice@trendsspotting.com
@trendsspotting