It's a Recession and You've been Typed

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M&C Saatchi‘s ‘Reacting to Recession' worldwide study, conducted from the Fall of 2008 through the Spring of 2009 looked into the behaviours of consumers in this recessionary period and have come up with 8 different types of consumers.

For your reading pleasure, see if you can find your type.

1. Crash Dieters
26% of adults want to identify and cut out all non-essential spending until things improve. Crash Dieters are cash orientated and debt frightens them.Working and living week to week they'll take action when the money runs out.

2. Scrimpers
13% of adults want to maintain their lifestyle and are reluctant to make sacrifices. Their strategy is to down trade rather than cut out by switching to lower priced brands and cheaper stores.



3. Abstainers
15% are maintaining their lifestyle and still spending day to day They postpone big purchases but aren't budgeting or searching the lowest prices. Not motivated by coupons, they are open to buy now pay later with interest free credit and 0% credit cards.


4. Balancers
9% are reluctant to compromise on quality of life, but recognize the need to balance their budgets. They prefer to rob Peter to pay Paul by sacrifice rather than compromise.



5. Treaters
12% are similar to Crash Dieters, but not good at it. It's not easy to cut back, but they know they must so they reward themselves with regular small treats. These are an opportunity for marketers in cross-category as they cut one thing but go for another.


6. Justifiers
12%, are a target for marketers.They are happy to spend, but looking for a good reason. Motivated by limited offers, new models, added value to help justify a purchase, they line up to buy the latest tech gadget and justify the purchase.

7. The Ostrich
9% feel unaffected by the financial chill are spending usual. Some are well paid others are in denial. They are a younger carefree group who happy to use credit cards. great for the economy as long as they do not reach crisis stage.


8. The Vultures
4%, are quite distinctive in that they love a good economic crash. While others suffer, they circle to make a killing on the bargains by eyeing the property market and profiting from others' misfortune.

Source : Media Post, Research Brief: Coping With Recession