Making sens of these turbulent times

It seems that consumers evolve faster than "big guns" executives....

So we know that the web has dramatically affected the way communication must operate and crate new (old?) values for consumers (who are no longeur passive zombies, but rather “creative” prosumers)

We know that to some degrees, dumb consumption confiscated part of the libido (life intinct), at the expense of creative, life-producing drives.

We know that new media, social capital, social media etc. help to recover this creative part.

What we don’t kow is the time it will take to see change become mainstream.

An article in the FT, “New’ US shopper to emerge from crisis”, may help and give some hope ;-)

A Citigroup report, for example, argues that US consumers are shifting towards “conscientious consumption”, embracing a “thriftiness” focused on value and quality, not quantity.

Euro RSCG, the global advertising group, says a recent survey of 500 people in the US, the UK and France pointed to a shift to “value” combined with a desire for “voluntary simplicity”. And consumer anthropologists suggest Americans will seek to “un-stuff” their lives, and focus more on the community.

Andrew Benett, of Euro RSCG Worldwide, says the changes are likely to be long-lasting. “I don’t think we are going to go back to the behaviours of the past, which were about excess and not thinking things through…we have moved on as consumers.”

(…)

The behavioural changes have included cutting back on “aspirational” luxury shopping. People are using cash and debit cards more than credit, while favouring lower-cost stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco. At supermarkets, well-known national brands have lost ground to retailers’ lower-cost own-brand products.

Joan Lewis, head of consumer and market research at Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer products company, says there is a remarkable consistency in these shifts, in both developed and developing markets. “We think that many of these changes we have seen will remain for a long time,” she says.

(…)

Ed Kerschner, chief investment strategist at Citi Global Wealth Management, says the US has passed an “inflection” point, marking the end of an acceptance of conspicuous consumption that he traces back to the Reagan presidency of the early 1980s. The end of easy access to consumer credit will, he argues, lead to “thriftiness” focused on “value”, rather than “frugality” focused on low prices.

It seems that consumers evolve faster than “big guns” executives….