Downturn Affects Gen Y, Seniors Least

Sarah Mahoney, Apr 14, 2009 06:23 PM
With the latest news showing that most Americans are continuing to hold back on spending, it looks as if Gen Y and senior citizens may be the exceptions, according to new research from Retail Forward.
When it comes to things like using coupons, buying in bulk, batching trips and switching to private labels, "I expected the most conservative people to be the oldest people," says Mandy Putnam, VP of the Columbus, Ohio-based consulting company. "But we're seeing that seniors on the upper end of the income scale are not changing their behavior. And the same seems to be true of Gen Y crowd. Perhaps because many of them don't yet have houses or investments, they don't feel as worried."
Gen X and Boomers, on the other hand, are making more conscious changes. "Among Baby Boomers, there's more interest in giving up national brands for private labels," she says. Only 18% of 18- to 24-year-olds say they are purchasing more private or store brands, compared with nearly a third of shoppers age 45 or older.
"Younger people are more likely to have given up restaurants or their daily Starbucks," she says, adding that nearly a third of shoppers age 25 to 34 are cutting back on everyday splurges, compared with 25% or fewer shoppers in all other age groups.
While many of these changes won't stick -- "people aren't going to avoid restaurants forever" -- Putnam says she expects some of them to be permanent.
In its latest ShopperScape survey, it asked 4,000 respondents what they are doing now to save money, and which of these tactics they think they are most likely to retain. These days, the leading change continues to be buying fewer items on impulse, listed by 48% as their No. 1 money-saver, followed by not buying food items that seem "just too expensive" (47%), and eating out at restaurants less often, as well as switching to more affordable restaurants (40%.)
But when asked which habits they thought would stick, even when the economy picks up, the No. 1 "I'll still be doing it" choice was "not buying pricey food items" (36%), followed by "buying less on impulse" (36%) and "using coupons more frequently" (31%.)