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Figure 1 Intentions to Spend More, the Same or Less at Retail Stores during the
Source: TNS Retail Forward ShopperScape™, February – December 2008 and January 2009 Shoppers' perceptions of their households’ financial health have improved marginally from December, especially regarding their debt levels—specifically credit card debt levels and monthly mortgage and car payments
Whether shoppers are managing their debt better or just not getting access to credit seems to be less related to short-term spending plans, however, than other factors, such as household income levels and worth of investments. The worse off shoppers felt about their incomes and investments this month, the less prone they were to increase their short-term spending plans. Despite unrelenting news about job losses, three-quarters of shoppers still feel at least as secure as, if not better off than, they did last year about their jobs. The job-related percentages have remained fairly static since late fall even as job losses mount across the nation. Figure 2 How Shoppers Perceive Household Financial Health Compared with Last Year
Source: TNS Retail Forward ShopperScape™, March, April, October, November and December 2008 and January 2009 Although shoppers are pulling back on spending, one-third of them report plans to take advantage of more clearance sales this year vs. last year (Figure 3).
Figure 3 How Many Clearance Sale Purchases Plan to Make Compared with Last Year
Highlighting indicates signficant differences among income segments. Source: TNS Retail Forward ShopperScape™, January 2009
Figure 4 Compared to Last Year, Do You Plan to Spend More, the Same, or
Source: TNS Retail Forward ShopperScape™ Leading Valentine’s Day categories are still greeting cards, candy and flowers, but spending intentions suggest that greeting cards will fare better than candy this year. More men intend to purchase greeting cards and fewer women intend to buy candy for their valentines vs. last year (Figure 5).
Figure 5 Percentage Planning to Purchase Gift for Valentine's Day*
*Among shoppers planning to purchase gifts for Valentine's Day Source: TNS Retail Forward ShopperScape™, January 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 ShopperScape™ members will receive a more detailed analysis of post-holiday shopping, including sections on gift cards and gift returns. ShopperScape™ members also can request assistance in custom analyses of this information by contacting Rachel.McGuire@tns-global.com or Mandy.Putnam@tns-global.com.
Who Benefits from Circuit City’s Demise? By tossing about $10 billion in sales up for grabs, the closing of Circuit City will have a major impact on the competitive environment for consumer electronics retailing. Results from TNS Retail Forward ShopperScape™ suggest Best Buy has won round one in the fight for Circuit City’s once-regular customers. Walmart should benefit going forward though the deepening recession hasn’t yet spurred more regular Circuit City shoppers to shift their CE spending to Walmart. Target and regional and local specialty CE retailers also are positioned to gain from Circuit City’s pain. All the combatants will need to adjust to some new realities in this shifting economic and competitive environment. Nick McCoy
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A few more shoppers this month are planning to spend more in the short-term than last month—up from 5% to 9%. However, 55% of shoppers remain cautious about their spending plans and plan to curb their spending during the next month (Figure 1).
Shoppers—especially female shoppers—plan to cut back on Valentine’s Day spending this year. However, more shoppers than in the past three years are participating in Valentine’s Day, which could mitigate the negative impact associated with decreased spending plans (Figure 4).