Always On Sale Blog

Recession? What Recession????

If your voice broke in the late 90′s/early 2000′s then you are unlikely to understand the effects of a recessive economy (…no offence). For Gen Y babes who’ve grown into young adults during the Howard era, would in all likelihood, only know an economy of zero unemployment, low interest rates and a less careful approach to spending. Sounds like happy times to me too as Australia rode the back of a stimulated global economy.

This carefree attitude has been reflected in a range of retail surveys recently undertaken where Generation Y seemed to buck the trend of the general population with regard to planned spending. One report of which, as mentioned in the article by Kelly Burke of smh.com.au, shows that Generation Y plans to spend more than double on their own Christmas wish list ($220), then that of the general population ($107). However, and unfortunately so for the banks and financial institutions, two thirds say they planned to shop a little smarter and NOT to use their credit cards for this spend, which compared to 42% of the general population.

This information is handy for online retailers in particular as they plan their campaigns for Christmas, as a majority of spend through online stores occurs on credit cards. Whilst possibly negative news, it means that online retailers working hard to provide compelling and targeted offers with a good customer proposition, may benefit overall as the market looks for smart alternatives to save a few extra dollars, grabbing more share of this spend than in previous years from the traditional bricks and mortar retail segment. Only time will tell.

For the complete piece on SMH, read on here.