NEWS12 June 2012

Recession now ‘deeply embedded’ in consumer consciousness

UK

UK— Kantar Worldpanel and its sister company, the political and social research specialists TNS BMRB, have been exploring how consumers’ psychological reaction to the recession has affected their actual shopping behaviour.

Results from the research were presented for the first time today at the inaugural Kantar Outlook Summit.

Kantar says the research “forms the basis for a unique interpretation of the impact and meaning of the current and developing environment for brands, utilising the consumer trends expertise of The Futures Company.”

The findings will be replied to by Jonathan Portes, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and former chief economist at the Cabinet Office and Simon Twigger, business unit director at Sainsbury’s.


Headline findings

  • 48% of UK households are struggling to meet their monthly budgets
  • 80% of working people expect their income to fall or at best remain static in the next 12 months
  • Paying off debt – rather than increasing expenditure – is now the major priority across all demographics
  • The psychology of recession has become deeply embedded in consumer consciousness, with those most affected also the most pessimistic
  • Buying on promotion has become normalised behaviour for all socio-economic groups
  • Poorer consumers are actively spending less on food and rejecting healthy options in favour of cheaper snack foods

@RESEARCH LIVE

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