The downturn that started in 2008 inevitably changed consumer behaviour, but eight years on, what has the knock on effect been for consumer attitudes in Ireland towards luxury and convenience? Data from Kantar Media’s TGI study reveals a number of fluctuations.
Back in 2008, just before the economic crisis began in earnest, 30% of adults in the Republic of Ireland agreed with the statement ‘I have expensive tastes’, but this then dropped in the following years before finding a plateau at which it remains today of 25%. It appears that some consumers, having been forced out of necessity to give up some extravagances, have decided they can live without them.
Consumers are also less willing to pay more for convenience than they once were. In 2008, 52% of adults claimed that they were prepared to pay more for products that make life easier, but this dropped in the following years before stabilising in the last three years, currently standing at 46%. Perhaps some consumers have been increasingly expecting convenience as standard, not an optional extra. Others may simply have stopped buying products of a higher spec, deciding they can get by with more basic options.
Ostentatious use of jewellery is markedly down on what it once was. TGI data reveals that in 2008 38% of women agreed ‘I often wear valuable jewellery’, but this has fallen in the intervening years and looks to have settled more recently at today’s figure of 33%. Making a statement by wearing luxury items is clearly less of a draw than it once was.
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