Working the Recession

Here's a nice example of how online is empowering consumers to map their way through the recession (from an old media player as it happens, The New York Times).

It helps you decide whether to buy or rent a house and to test for different trends in rent levels etc.

Big opportunity for Irish media to follow suit we reckon.

Onwards to 2006

Consumer spending has taken a bashing lately, as evidenced by the recent retails sales data. What about the future? The latest forecast (pdf) from Davy Stockbrokers is gloomy if not unsurprising: they see Irish consumer spending contracting this year and next.

But luckily Irish consumers do not practice zero-based budgeting. The Davy forecast effectively amounts to an outlook similar to 2006 in terms of the size of the consumer spending cake, i.e.: about €90 billion rather than the €100 billion previous forecasts had suggested. Yes, it's less than expected, but it's still a lot of money for smart marketers to capture with the right offers for value-sensitive consumers.

Up PERIscope

What makes the consumers of France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and The Netherlands tick when it comes to food? We are delighted to say that the answers are now available online, as part of Bord Bia's PERIscope market intelligence tracking study.

Amárach conducted the five country survey for Bord Bia in May/June this year. A summary report of the findings plus detailed individual country reports are available at Bord Bia's website.