STORES Magazine - February 2009 - (Page 25)

EXPENDABLE son] ever, in part because people were looking for deals,” he says. “They didn’t want to spend money on gas or be tempted by promotions at the mall, so they sat at home, did their shopping, got some great deals and – in many instances – didn’t pay sales tax.” “Cutting back, trading down, shopping in less expensive stores and putting less on credit cards is now a way of life,” says Wendy Liebmann, CEO of WSL Strategic Retail. “The big worrisome cluding gym memberships, casual dining and magazine subscriptions; another 5 percent planned to begin cutting back shortly. The numbers are somewhat less menacing when the percentages are recalculated for the total group of respondents. For example, among those who said they had cut back, 52 percent claimed to be doing less department store shopping for apparel. If the percentage is recalculated to include all of the survey participants, 33 percent are shopping less at department stores for apparel. TOP 10 THINGS SHOPPERS CONSIDER “EXPENDABLE” Luxury handbag Satellite radio Specialty shopping for apparel High-end cosmetics Maid service Facial Fine dining, sit-down restaurant Manicure/pedicure Upgraded cell phone Club/social membership 92% 91 91 91 90 90 89 88 88 87 TOP 10 THINGS SHOPPERS CONSIDER “UNTOUCHABLE” Internet service Cell phone service (basic) Cable/satellite TV (basic) Discount shopping for apparel Hair cut/color Fast-food restaurant Casual sit-down restaurant Charitable contribution Vacation Fast-casual restaurant 81% 64 61 43 40 37 33 32 30 26 92% of shoppers consider a luxury handbag “expendable” 81% of shoppers consider internet service “untouchable” Source: BIGresearch, American Pulse Survey, December 2008 Source: BIGresearch, American Pulse Survey, December 2008 shift for retailers and manufacturers is that shoppers are learning to say ‘no’, as in ‘No, not today,’ ‘No, I really don’t need that’ and ‘No, thank you, I’ll do it myself.’ . . . The longer shoppers … say no, the easier it is, and the longer it will take to return to the consumption of the early years of the millennium,” she says. What stands out in the research is the breadth of items and services considered expendable by consumers. Respondents were asked to consider whether they could or could not live without 32 different things. Twenty-three of those items were considered expendable by at least 75 percent of those surveyed. Additionally, 64 percent of the survey participants indicated that they had already cut back on many of the items listed, inWWW.STORES.ORG UNTOUCHABLE Hard to swallow It doesn’t much matter how the percentages are sliced and diced when it comes to eating out. Hard as the news is to swallow, fine dining restaurants, fast-casual restaurants and casual sit-down restaurants appear to be in for difficult times in the months to come despite tweaks to pricing and menu offerings. Nearly nine in 10 (89 percent) consider fine dining expendable in today’s recessionary economy. Among those who have already cut back, 65 percent have given up this experience – for now. One demographic group that restaurant operators will continue to serve at their tables is people ages 18 to 34; that’s particularly true of casual sit-down restaurants. And judging by the survey data, the big winners are likely to be fastSTORES / FEBRUARY 2009 25 http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - February 2009

STORES Magazine - February 2009 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Are You a Pusher or a Puller? What Shoppers Think Online Retail Satisfaction 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Cover Story - Something’s Got to Give First Look Concept2Watch Online Partners Merchandising Sustainability Inventory Systems Drug Store Systems Business Intelligence Inventory Managment Online Marketing Supply Chain - Better Data, Better Decisions Returns Management - Identifying Fraud Data Security - Securing Intimate Data Anti-Shoplifting - Mall of Shame? Risk Management - Securing Consumer Confidence Loeb Retail letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar End Cap

STORES Magazine - February 2009

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