Chicago, June 22 - Frugality is still in, but consumers are not planning to cut back as much this summer as they were last fall, according to new data.
Most consumers plan to spend less on summer vacations, cook at home more and eat out less often. Those trends are strongest among respondents with lower incomes, according to a survey of 1,000 consumers conducted by Information Resources Inc.
"The times they are a changin' but not as much as they were changin' in the fall of 2008," said Thom Blischok, president of consulting and innovation at Information Resources.
Now that consumers have had a few months to adjust to rising unemployment, the credit crunch and housing market troubles, they are not making as many cuts as they expected to last fall, just as the financial crisis was setting in.
For example, while 72 percent of those making less than $35,000 said they planned to cut back on dining out last fall, only 52 percent of people surveyed in that income bracket plan to do so now, IRI said.
In the same income bracket, 62 percent were cooking from scratch more often in September and October of 2008. Now, 80 percent of those earning $35,000 or less are changing their cooking habits to save money.
In general, consumers are developing new rituals such as cooking more and using lower-cost private label goods, trends that Blischok expects to continue once the economy rebounds.
"The new conservative shopper will not behave the way the shopper did of 2006, they will be much more tuned to how to more effectively spend each and every one of those dollars," Blischok said.
Private label products, which stores have put more emphasis on in the downturn, are typically priced lower than branded items and are more profitable for retailers.
Such products accounted for about 19 percent of U.S. sales of food and household goods in 2008. That level should rise to 21 percent to 22 percent this year, according to IRI.
"The continued movement to private label has surprised me a little bit," Blischok said. "We're seeing that private label today is in fact becoming a trusted brand in the household."
Even consumers who may not want to show that they are using private label products are doing so. Blischok said some shoppers said they use store brands for their own meals but buy branded products to serve to guests.