Commentary
Lessons From 2008 Recession: No Quick Return To Normal For Affluent Market
- by Michael Baer , March 24, 2020
The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has put us all in a situation we’ve never experienced before. Consumers, communities, and businesses crave facts, information, surety. And yet, unfortunately, we have more questions than answers.
However, an analysis of data from the Ipsos Affluent Survey from 2009-11 yields one key takeaway: Any expectation …
Using the 2008 recession as guidelines for what to expect from the affluent market is probably not a good idea.
The aspirational affluent, those with a net worth under $1 million, were the ones most hurt by the recession. The aspirationals lost jobs, savings, credit availability, and future financial opportunity. They are the ones that cut back the most on luxury purchases.
The true affluent reduced luxury purchases moderately and returned to purchasing true luxury relatively quickly.