An extensive new study from NPD Group finds that no matter what's going with the economy, consumers aren't so much recovering as they are resetting.
"Overall, consumers have reached this new
equilibrium of spending and making decisions about things like groceries and apparel and electronics and automotive," Dee Warmath, SVP/Retail Insights for NPD, tells Marketing Daily. "The pie has
shrunk, so each category is competing with another. So while there is a roving release of pent-up demand, there's not an overall increase in spending."
The Port Washington, N.Y.-based market
research company interviewed some 71,000 consumers across eight categories, reviewing about 60 retailers and 75 brands per category. The new Retail & Brand Landscape Report then ranks each in
terms of shopper engagement, shopper priorities, and shopper impressions. And it found that while the recession changed shopping habits a little, in terms of store choice—for example, consumers
typically have about 4% more retailers in their consideration set than they did before the economy tanked—it changed brand perception a lot. Consumers now typically have 20% more brands they'll
consider buying in any category, she says.